Hurricane Ian was on its way to South Carolina Friday morning after bludgeoning southwestern and central Florida, leaving catastrophic damage in its wake.
The National Hurricane Center said Ian, which regained hurricane status after a brief span as a tropical storm, could bring a “life-threatening storm surge” and hurricane conditions to the Carolina coast along with “flooding rains” across South and North Carolina and southern Virginia. It issued a hurricane warning for the entire South Carolina coast.
And Ian could have more in store for Florida: “Major to record river flooding will continue across central Florida through next week,” the center predicted.
CBS News confirmed six storm-related deaths in Florida as of Friday morning.
Ian “could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida’s history,” President Biden said Thursday.
Ian’s center was about 145 miles south-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, as of 5 a.m. Friday. It was moving north-northeast at 9 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, the hurricane center said.
Ian is forecast to make landfall somewhere near Charleston, South Carolina, mid-afternoon on Friday, CBS News weather producer David Parkinson said.
But it should “rapidly weaken” after landfall and dissipate by Saturday night, the hurricane center noted.
Ian made landfall Wednesday in southwestern Florida as a major Category 4 hurricane, then ripped across the state. It was one of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit the U.S.
People were trapped in homes. Videos and images showed devastating flooding.
More than 2 million homes and businesses remained without power Friday morning, according to poweroutage.us.
