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Hurricane Ian first made landfall near Florida’s Punta Gorda earlier this week as a category 4 storm, bringing huge storm surges and high winds. It briefly weakened into a tropical storm but has since strengthened into a category 1 hurricane.
Ian’s path of destruction over Florida created widespread infrastructural damage. Trees, light poles, and even houses were knocked over by the strong winds and flooding. More than 2.5 million households across Florida were without electricity yesterday as a result. President Joe Biden declared parts of the state a “major disaster.”
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“The amount of water that’s been rising and will likely continue to rise today even as the storm is passing, is basically a 500 year flood event,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said yesterday during a briefing. “Some of the flooding you’re going to see, in areas hundreds of miles from where this made landfall, are gonna set records.”
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Local law enforcement throughout Florida reported that as many as 17 people may have died as a result of the hurricane, according to the Tampa Bay Times, . Online videos show people and pets being rescued from severely flooded areas, some from being trapped inside of their vehicles.
“This could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida’s history,” President Biden said at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters on Thursday. “We’re seeing millions of people without power and thousands hunkered down in schools and community centers.”