September 30 (Reuters) – Hurricane Ian tracked north towards South Carolina on Friday, where it will make landfall for a second time, a day after wreaking havoc in central Florida, causing the death of at least ten people.
Ian, which had weakened to the point of being considered a tropical storm as it passed through Florida, was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane on Thursday afternoon as it tracked toward South Carolina, with winds with a maximum sustained speed estimated at 120 km/h, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) of the United States.
The hurricane is expected to hit the Charleston, South Carolina area around 2 p.m. ET (6 p.m. GMT) on Friday, bringing flooding, storm surges and life-threatening winds.
NBC News reported that at least 10 people had died, while CNN put the death toll at 17 as of Thursday night.
At an evening press briefing, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis acknowledged that some people had prayed, but declined to give a specific number pending official confirmation.
Earlier in the day, President Joe Biden warned that Ian could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida history. He ordered federal aid to South Carolina, declaring the hurricane an emergency.
More than 2.3 million homes and businesses were still without power as of Thursday evening, according to monitoring site PowerOutage.us.
Authorities in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina have asked residents to prepare for dangerous conditions.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper urged residents “to take the necessary precautions”, warning of the risk of flooding, landslides and tornadoes.
“This storm is still dangerous,” said Roy Cooper. (Reporting Brad Brooks, Joseph Ax, Dan Whitcomb, Sharon Bernstein, Rich McKay and Brendan O’Brien; writing by Joseph Ax; French version Augustin Turpin, narrated by Kate Entringer)