Hurricane Ian Makes Landfall in Florida

Hurricane Ian Makes Landfall in Florida

Hurricane Ian unleashes heavy rains and strong winds over the city of Punta Gorda as the Category 4 storm makes landfall in southwest Florida, September 28, 2022.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Center says the extremely dangerous Hurricane Ian has made landfall in the southeastern U.S. state of Florida.

Forecasters say Ian came ashore Wednesday near Cayo Costa, along the southwestern coast of Florida, with maximum sustained winds of nearly 250 kilometers an hour, close to the threshold of becoming a Category 5 on the center’s five-level scale that is based on a storm’s wind speed and destructive potential.

More than 2 million residents on Florida’s west coast have been ordered to evacuate their homes, and Governor Ron DeSantis has activated thousands of National Guard troops as part of the state’s response. Popular theme parks and resorts such as Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld are shutting down.

The U.S. space agency NASA has closed the visitor complex at its Kennedy Space Center on Florida’s eastern coast and rolled the massive Artemis 1 moon rocket and Orion space capsule from the launch pad to the Vehicle Assembly Building, further delaying its much-anticipated test flight by several more weeks.

Thousands of flights have been canceled after several major airports in the expected path of the storm, including Tampa and St. Petersburg, shut down operations.

Read more here: www.voanews.com/a/hurricane-ian-evolves-into-extremely-dangerous-storm-as-it-approaches-florida/6766747.html

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