The nightmare in the form of strong winds, rains and the risk of flooding has arrived in South Carolina (USA), while Florida takes stock of the enormous damage inflicted by Hurricane Ian. "He launched the boats as if they were taking toys," Kevin Anderson, the mayor of the destroyed Fort Myers, told CNN. In this southwestern Florida city, many of its inhabitants look for their boats on the streets, impassable by the remains of houses, trees and infrastructure. There the hurricane hit on Wednesday with force 4 (on a scale of 5) and the water level reached over three meters high.
The authorities insist that the images show the damage, but not the magnitude of the catastrophe. More than two million homes are still without electricity this Friday and, in Florida, 21 victims have been confirmed, although everything indicates that the balance will continue to do well and will not be final for days or weeks. "This could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida history," US President Joe Biden warned on Thursday.
without evacuating
Despite the evacuation orders, many citizens preferred to stay at home. In Fort Myers, many people ended up struggling to reach higher ground as storm surge turned streets into rivers. "I've heard stories of people who got into chest freezers and floated to other houses... and were rescued in higher houses," said Dan Allers, a local councilman. “There were terrifying noises, debris flying everywhere, doors flying…,” said Tom Johnson, a resident witness to the destruction.
The ravages of the hurricane Boats in the streets of Fort Myers, collapsed bridges in Sanibel and streets still flooded after the passage of Hurricane Ian in Florida AFP
At least 700 rescue operations have been carried out in the hard-hit Lee and Charlotte counties. River flooding in Central Florida could reach record levels in the coming days as the torrential rivers that accompanied Ian are channeled into major waterways, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
It is seen that Ian makes landfall this Friday night in South Carolina, converted into a category 1 hurricane, sustained winds of 120 kilometers per hour, although its rapid degradation to tropical is expected, although already before its storm the strong winds and rains They hit cities like Charleston. Hundreds of miles of coastline, from Georgia to North Carolina, are under a hurricane warning. The NHC notified the risk of the risk of considerable flooding in South and North Carolina, as well as in Virginia at least until this Saturday.
