The Latest Breaking News from Gulf Coast

FORT MYERS, Fla. — As Ian continued its destructive trek across Florida, roughly 2 million households across the state awoke on Thursday without electricity as the Gulf Coast began to assess leveled homes, flooded buildings and streets, and damaged or destroyed road and bridges.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — As Ian continued its destructive trek across Florida, over a million households across the state awoke on Thursday without electricity as residents and emergency crews along the Gulf Coast began to assess the toppled buildings, flooded streets and crippled infrastructure.

Emergency crews tried on Thursday to reach stranded Florida residents as a resurgent Hurricane Ian veered toward the Carolinas after cutting a path of destruction across Florida, leaving behind deadly floodwaters, downed power lines and widespread damage.

Hurricane Ian approached Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a powerful storm just one rating shy of the highest category designation given to storms in the United States.

Hurricane Ian is just off the Gulf Coast of Florida and approaching landfall near Cape Coral as a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 155 miles per hour.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned: "There will be catastrophic flooding and life threatening storm surge on the Gulf Coast region." He also claimed it is now too late to flee the storm

Big Cat Rescue CEO Carole Baskin, from Netflix’s hit series Tiger King, says staff have been preparing the facility for Hurricane Ian which is set to hit Florida's Gulf Coast

Hurricane Ian plowed into Florida's Gulf Coast with catastrophic force on Wednesday, unleashing howling winds, torrential rains and a treacherous surge of ocean surf that made it one of the most powerful U.S. storms in recent years.

Residents of Florida's Gulf Coast on Tuesday boarded up homes, packed up their vehicles and headed for higher ground as Hurricane Ian drew near, threatening to bring a deadly storm surge and more than a foot of rain to some areas. 

MIAMI — Hurricane Ian’s projected path shifted slightly Tuesday, on a track that would push the powerful storm to an earlier potential landfall south of the Tampa Bay area — a small but significant change for a Gulf Coast vulnerable to storm surge.

MIAMI — Hurricane Ian’s project path shifted slightly Tuesday, on a track that would push the powerful storm’s to an earlier potential landfall south of the Tampa Bay area — a small but significant change for a Gulf Coast vulnerable to storm surge.