A Total Nightmare in Florida Due to Hurricane Ian

Hurricane Ian has made landfall at around 2:24pm ET, Accuweather reports.

The eye of the hurricane reached North Captiva Island, an island west of Fort Myers in southern Florida on Wednesday afternoon.

The category 4 hurricane is projected to be one of the most destructive storms to hit Florida, with winds gushing at 155 mph.

Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis says about 200,000 of the state’s residents are without power, but it’s a “drop in the bucket for what’s going to happen over the next 24 to 48 hours.”

DeSantis was speaking at an afternoon briefing in Lake City, as Hurricane Ian’s eyewall was beginning to make landfall:

There’s going to be widespread power outages, particularly in southwest Florida.

Outside of Southwest Florida crews are working to quickly restore power.

DeSantis said more than 42,000 lineworkers, many from out of state, were on standby to move in when conditions were considered safe.

He also said he had requested approval for a major disaster declaration for all 67 counties in Florida, which he said would cover 100% of the state’s upfront costs for “response and recovery” for the first 60 days from US government funds.