Hurricane Ian Approaches Florida

Florida governor Ron DeSantis has encouraged Floridians in the path to evacuate or at the very least prepare before Ian makes landfall.

Hurricane Ian is expected to make landfall between Tampa and Naples in Florida this evening as a Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds reaching 130 mph. Ian is projected to produce rainfall amounts of up to 24 inches in west central Florida and could bring dangerous storm surges along Florida’s west coast that may raise water levels as much as 12 feet in some areas.

Ian is the first major hurricane to make landfall in the US mainland this year. As of this writing, Ian was located over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, after hitting Cuba early Tuesday as a Category 3 and leaving the entire island of 11 million people without power (see photos). In contrast, Hurricane Fiona reached Puerto Rico as a Category 1 storm last week, which is still dealing with the aftermath.

Nearly 2.5 million people in coastal Florida are under an evacuation order. See the storm's trajectory here.