Hurricane Ian could become “the deadliest” to have ever hit Florida, US President Joe Biden said Thursday, September 29. “The figures (…) are not yet clear but we are receiving initial information indicating that human losses could be substantial”, he said during a visit to the premises of the federal agency that supports natural disasters (FEMA). The US president said he would visit Florida “when conditions permit”, “to thank personally” people engaged in relief and reconstruction operations.
The United States discovered the damage on Thursday “historical” of the hurricane, which ” devastated “ certain cities of Florida according to the governor of this State, and caused at least two deaths. A spokesperson for Volusia County, on Florida’s east coast, said it had identified “a first death linked to Hurricane Ian”. He is a 72-year-old man, “went out to empty your pool during the storm”, added Kevin Captain. An official in Osceola County, in the center-east of the state, told CNN the death of a resident of a retirement home.
Earlier, Governor Ron DeSantis mentioned two deaths “not yet confirmed, as we don’t know if they are related to the storm”even if it is ” likely “. He did not indicate where these deaths occurred.
On the west coast, where the hurricane first struck, the sheriff of Lee County told MSNBC that he mourned the deaths, without being able to communicate their number. At the same time, the search continued to find twenty passengers of a migrant boat which capsized Wednesday near the archipelago of the Keys, slightly away from the trajectory of the hurricane.
“Devastated areas”
“We have never seen floods like this”assured Ron DeSantis. “Some of these areas, Cape Coral, the city of Fort Myers, were really flooded and really devastated by this storm”he continued, calling the damage“historical”.
Ian, since downgraded to a tropical storm, made landfall Wednesday afternoon as a Category 4 hurricane (on a scale of 5) in southwest Florida, before continuing its passage through the state, carrying strong winds and torrential rains.
It is still too early to draw up an assessment, but some material damage was already visible a few hours after the passage of the hurricane. In the port of Fort Myers, some boats were partially submerged, another having run aground on the shore.
Thursday morning, more than 2.6 million homes or businesses remained without electricity, out of a total of 11 million, according to the specialized site PowerOutage. Faced with the extent of the damage, US President Joe Biden declared a state of major natural disaster on Thursday morning, a decision to release additional federal funds for the affected regions.
Fire chief in the southwest Florida city of Naples, Pete DiMara, told CNN that his fire station was suddenly flooded by up to two meters of water, preventing his crews from responding to emergency calls. ’emergency.
Although weakened, Storm Ian continued its destructive course towards South Carolina on Thursday. It creates winds of up to 110 km/h and floods “catastrophic” in east-central Florida, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC). It is expected to strengthen, regaining hurricane strength when it makes landfall in South Carolina on Friday, before weakening rapidly again.
As the surface of the oceans warms, the frequency of the most intense hurricanes, with stronger winds and greater precipitation, increases, but not the total number of hurricanes.