COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday morning the time for Southwest Florida residents to evacuate had passed, as Hurricane Ian approached the Gulf Coast as a nearly Category 5 storm.
“This one has just strengthened and strengthened, and it is the real deal,” DeSantis said during a briefing at the state Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee. “So, it’s going to do a lot of damage. So, people should be prepared for that.”
In Collier County, Florida, the effects of this monstrous storm are already being felt.
Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said, “Our CCSO Deputies are reporting roadway flooding in Goodland. Combine this with projected storm surge that’s on its way and this will be very dangerous. Stay off the roads! Stay safe.”
DeSantis said Wednesday that people in the storm’s immediate path are “already in hazardous conditions” and need to “hunker down, treat it like a tornado.”
Power lines were seen tumbling to the street and sparking a fire in Collier County Wednesday morning.
“Need yet another reminder not to be out driving around? Most likely electric issues caused by storm. Our Fire Department pros are on the way,” said Rambosk.
With wind, rain, and flooding expected to cause widespread damage as Ian crosses the state, DeSantis said “this is going to be a nasty, nasty day, two days.”
Ian was on track Wednesday morning to make landfall on the Charlotte County coast. The National Hurricane Center repeatedly used the word “catastrophic” in its morning advisories.
With extensive damage expected to infrastructure, DeSantis said most of the 2.5 million people ordered to evacuate have “by and large,” abided by the directive.
More than 30,000 utility workers are poised to restore power after Ian moves through the state, with some already working on outages.
The National Hurricane Center forecast that Ian — which was approaching a Category 5 rating Wednesday morning on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale — will creep across Central Florida and exit into the Atlantic Ocean by late Thursday.
“There will be tropical-storm-force winds, strong tropical-storm-force winds felt all the way through the central part and up in Northeast Florida,” state Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said.
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