MIAMI — Hurricane Ian, with landfall still hours away, was already “causing catastrophic storm surge, winds and flooding” in southwest Florida early Wednesday afternoon, the beginning of what promised to be a damaging path across the peninsula.
In a 2 p.m. update, the National Hurricane Center said the massive Category 4 storm was already taking a heavy toll on the southwest Gulf Coast coast. The most immediate and life-threatening concern was storm surge — the waters of the Gulf of Mexico pushed inland by Ian.
Numerous videos posted on the internet showed torrents of seawater rapidly filling streets in Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach. Naples also reported a record 6 feet of surge. Early, sections of Key West were flooding.
