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 “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.
Ian was already hitting much of the coast of South and North Carolina with tropical storm-force winds Friday morning, the hurricane center reported.
And Ian could have more in store for Florida: “Major to record river flooding will continue across central Florida through next week,” the hurricane center predicted.
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., and could be the deadliest in the state’s history, President Biden has said.
CBS News confirmed six deaths in Florida due to the storm as of Friday morning.
People were trapped in homes. Videos and images showed devastating flooding. Today, more than 2 million homes and businesses remain without power, according to poweroutage.us.
Now, Ian is forecast to make its second landfall somewhere near Charleston, South Carolina, mid-afternoon on Friday, CBS News weather producer David Parkinson said. As of 8 a.m., its center was about 105 miles south-southeast of Charleston, and it was moving north at 9 mph with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, according to the hurricane center.
It should “rapidly weaken” after landfall and move farther inland over South and North Carolina before dissipating by Saturday night, according to forecasters.
