After ravaging Florida leaving a potentially “substantial” human toll, Hurricane Ian was heading towards other states in the southeastern United States on Friday, including South Carolina and North Carolina.
Downgraded to a tropical storm after passing over land, Ian strengthened again to the point of being recategorized as a hurricane by the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
“Torrential rains are likely moving through North and South Carolina and southwestern Virginia,” according to the NHC, which has placed the entire coast of South Carolina on hurricane alert as well as parts of Georgia and North Carolina. North.
Ian should then “rapidly weaken” by entering the land between Friday and Saturday, according to the organization.
While the images multiplied of streets transformed into channels of murky water, of boats thrown to the ground like simple toys, of smashed houses, hundreds of people were still waiting to be rescued in Florida.
“This could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida’s history,” US President Joe Biden said during a visit to the offices of the federal agency that fights against natural disasters, FEMA.
” Numbers […] are not yet clear, but we are receiving initial reports of human losses which could be substantial, “he added, saying he wanted to go to the southern state as soon as possible, but also to American territory. Puerto Rico, an island recently damaged by Hurricane Fiona.
The president also declared a state of emergency in South Carolina, sending federal reinforcements there, according to a statement.
At a press conference Thursday evening, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he expected a number of deaths from the hurricane.
The elected official did not, however, put forward a provisional figure, preferring to wait for the results to be confirmed “over the next few days”.
“Over 700 confirmed rescues have taken place, and there will surely be many more when more data comes in,” the governor also said.
night of anguish
After a night of anguish, residents began to assess the state of play on Thursday.
In the village of Iona, Ronnie Sutton, who has still not been able to return home, said he was convinced that the water had destroyed everything.
“It’s awful. I guess that’s the price you pay when you live at sea level. Sometimes it backfires on you,” he lamented.
In Fort Myers, flooding swamped some boats, pushing others into downtown streets.
“These were terrifying noises, with debris flying everywhere, the doors in the air,” testified a resident who witnessed the destruction, Tom Johnson.
At the same time, the search continued to find 18 passengers of a migrant boat which capsized on Wednesday near the archipelago of the Keys, nine others having been rescued. Among them, four Cubans managed to swim to shore.
Without electricity
Ian made landfall Wednesday afternoon as a Category 4 hurricane (on a scale of 5) in southwest Florida, before continuing to track across the state, bringing high winds and rain. torrential.
On Friday, 2.1 million homes or businesses remained without electricity, out of a total of 11 million, according to the specialized site PowerOutage.
In Punta Gorda, a small coastal town in the hurricane’s path, Ian uprooted some trees and knocked down utility poles and street signs. Its rains flooded the streets of the marina, where the water still reached the calves Thursday morning.
“It was incessant, it was constantly blowing over our heads. You could hear the metal banging against the building. It was dark. We didn’t know what was going on outside,” said resident Joe Ketcham.
Faced with the extent of the damage, Joe Biden had declared a state of major natural disaster on Thursday morning, a decision making it possible to release additional federal funds for the affected regions.
Before Florida, Ian had hit Cuba, killing three people and causing extensive damage and leaving many homes without power.
Dozens of people took to the streets of Havana’s Cerro neighborhood Thursday night to protest the lack of lighting.
As the surface of the oceans warms, the frequency of the most intense hurricanes, with stronger winds and greater precipitation, increases, but not the total number of hurricanes.