"We've never seen storm surge of this magnitude," Florida governor Ron DeSantis said on Thursday. "The amount of water that's been rising, and will likely continue to rise today even as the storm is passing, is basically a 500-year flooding event."
At least 15 people have been killed and disaster officials were readying for thousands of people to be displaced long-term after countless properties were rendered uninhabitable. Around 2 million people lost power and the damages are so far estimated in the multi-billions of dollars.
Aerial footage showed neighborhood after neighborhood of complete decimation where homes had been inundated with several feet of water and some swept clean from their foundations. Large boats and yachts were left upended on sidewalks and all manner of heavy debris strewn across the landscape.
Many people were trapped in their homes after high waters left streets impassable. A portion of one causeway collapsed, cutting off several barrier islands entirely from the mainland.
"This could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida's history," President Joe Biden said, following a briefing on Thursday. "The numbers are still unclear, but we're hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life."
Forecasters warned Floridians not to let their guard down with more severe flooding expected from heavy downpours and tidal surges. Hurricane Ian is expected to swing north in the direction of South Carolina as a strong tropical storm or Category 1 hurricane on Friday.
The climate crisis does not necessarily mean more hurricanes in the future – but planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions are super-charging storms making it more common for them to rapidly-intensify and hold more water.
Rapid analysis, published by researchers at Stony Brook University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on Thursday, shows that human-induced climate change increased Ian's extreme rain rates by more than 10 per cent, the nonprofit Climate Signals reported.
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