Today is Thursday, September 29, 2022. It’s a day after Hurricane Ian struck Florida’s southwest coast and the laborious process of rescuing people from the aftermath of this very dangerous storm has begun. The storm is supposed to form again as a hurricane and churn into the Carolinas on Friday. It will be a long time before we can accurately assess the damage wrought by this hurricane on the residents of Florida. A hurricane warning has been issued for much of the coastal Carolinas ahead of Friday’s final landfall there. This update on the devastating hurricane to hit the Sunshine State is provided in an online article for The Weather Channel by Ron Brackett and Jan Wesner Childs entitled “Hurricane Ian Live Updates: Four Dead on Florida’s Southwest Coast.”

More than 2.6 million power outages are being reported across more than two dozen counties, from Collier on the southwest coast to Nassau on the far northeast corner of the state. The highest outages are in Lee County with about 414,000, according to PowerOutage.us. The highest by percentage is in Hardee, where 99.5% of the county’s 9,545 power customers are reported to be without electricity.

The number of fatalities are still being assessed, but in Sarasota, the County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed two deaths from Hurricane Ian. Further details were not immediately released. The storm caused heavy damage in the southern part of the county, including on Manasota Key and in Venice.

Four other deaths are being blamed on Ian in the United States and two in Cuba, where it hit landfall first before heading to the United States.

On Sanibel Island, two people are confirmed dead, according to a briefing from the city earlier this evening. Further details weren’t immediately available here either.

The deaths bring the total number to four connected to Hurricane Ian in the country. A 72-year-old man in Deltona, about 25 miles north of Orlando, died when he apparently fell into a canal behind his home during the storm. The death of a 38-year-old man in a traffic crash in Lake County was also tied to the storm, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

In terms of dramatic rescue attempts, one such attempt was executed in Orlando where the Florida National Guard and Orange County Fire Rescue carried 73 residents of a local hotel to safety when the building was surrounded by water. Crews used boats and high water vehicles to rescue them, WESH-TV reported. Three buses then took the residents to shelters in the area.

Some 33,000 people spent last night in 260 shelters across the state, according to the American Red Cross. The organization predicts that number could rise as power outages and other issues persist in the coming days. More than 700 Red Cross workers are supporting the aid effort.

Scenes from the carnage played out on our television sets all day: buildings and homes were seen being washed away with vehicles in the water, vehicles in the bay, and boats ending up upside down.

President Joe Biden spoke at FEMA headquarters in Washington today, in which he announced that Ian “could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida’s history.” He added, “It is still moving across the state today.” He also indicated that substantial loss of life could result from the hurricane impacting Florida. However, this has not been substantiated as of yet. But he did indicate that the federal government will cover 100% of the cost Florida incurs for its emergency response efforts, particularly making Florida Governor Ron DeSant-ASS very happy.

As expected, people were trapped in their houses all over the region, especially in Collier County, home to Naples, where individuals are awaiting rescue efforts on their behalf. Some callers to authorities involved in the rescue efforts told of “reporting life-threatening medical emergencies in deep water.” These are the people who will be rescued first, according to a posting put on Facebook. Others, who said water was entering their homes, would have to wait, the post said.

In terms of rainfall, Ian dumped record-smashing rain, especially in the Orlando metro area which saw a foot of rain from 4 a.m. Wednesday until 4 a.m. Thursday. Flash flood warnings were issued for parts of Orange, Osceloa, Brevard, and Volusia Counties.

A reporter for Fox 35 in Orlando, Dave Puglisi, tweeted a photo of an ambulance stuck on a flooded Orlando street. “Crews are moving through waist- to chest-deep water trying to get to the ambulance,” Puglisi said.

Here then are some details from the impact of Hurricane Ian on the southwest coast of Florida. Let’s hope and pray that it doesn’t cause the same sort of damage to the Carolinas when it strikes there tomorrow.

It’s too late to report on other news stories of the day, so I will be taking my bow tonight. I will not be posting my blog tomorrow since Elliot and I are taking in a Yankees game tomorrow evening. This will be our first game in more than five years, I believe. The Yankees are playing the Baltimore Orioles in-house and it is also Bobble Night.

I wanted to report on a riveting drama I saw today at the IFC Center called God’s Country starring Thandiwe Newton as a former New Orleans police officer relocated to the wide open spaces of Montana who is forced to deal with trespassers on her property which slowly escalates into a maelstrom of intimidation and violence. I thought the film very good, especially in the title character played by Newton, Cassandra Guidry, who is dealing with her own grief after her ailing mother dies and issues at work where she is now an instructor at a local college. Oops, I gave some of the movie away. I’ll return to it on Saturday – if I remember.

So have a good Friday.

Stay safe and be well.