Footage and videos from Hurricane Ian’s landfall in Florida on Wednesday show the truly terrifying devastation caused by the Category 4 storm.
A timelapse video from Fort Myers, shared by a local reporter, shows seawater surging up and over the city, flooding the streets and the immediate vicinity. As of Thursday morning, calls to the Mayor’s office in Fort Myers led to a dead phoneline as more than 2 million power outages were reported by the Weather Channel.
I’ve been capturing video from this webcam in Fort Myers all day and I’ve put it into a Timelapse. Check out the storm surge rushing in! Crazy. #Ian #flwx pic.twitter.com/lj7a1wThga
— Brennan Prill (@WxBrenn) September 28, 2022
A similar video of Sanibel Island, shared on Instagram, shows storm surge flooding through the streets in less than 30 minutes of Hurricane Ian making landfall. Despite officially being a Cat. 4 storm winds reached 155mph, just shy of the 157mph needed for Ian to be ranked as a Cat. 5.
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Catastrophic storm surges swept through Naples, reaching more than half way up the first floors of many buildings. In one video, a man swam through the filthy water. Hurricane specialist Zach Covey warned against entering the storm water, as it is likely full of chemicals and other unknown hazards. (RELATED: Florida Mayors Let Biden Go To Voicemail)
STORM surge in FL #Naples 😱#Hurricane_Ian #Flooding #HurricaneIanupdate pic.twitter.com/GWEj9hk5jg
— AMErikaNCRYPTOGirl ♥️ (@AMErikaNGIRLLL) September 28, 2022
Another showed a door violently buckling under the weight of the water in the same area. Electrical lines could be seen in some videos, sparking and igniting as they hit the water before much of the southern part of the state was left without power.