Ian strengthened into a hurricane again on Thursday evening, bringing 75mph winds toward South Carolina, where it's projected to make landfall at midday Friday near Charleston. The National Hurricane Center warned of "life-threatening" flooding and storm surge for the South Carolina coast, the Washington Post reports. With the storm moving on, Florida officials began to report deaths; the toll stood at 15, per CNN, but search-and-rescue efforts were still taking place, and they expected that number to rise. In Lee and Charlotte counties, more than 500 people had been rescued by Thursday afternoon. More than 2.5 million customers in the state lacked electricity.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Coast Guard helicopters were picking up stranded residents from the roofs of homes, per USA Today. He called it a 500-year flooding event. "The impacts of this storm are historic, and the damage that has been done is historic," DeSantis said. The operator of hospitals in Cape Coral and Fort Myers was evacuating patients after the buildings lost power and water. "Three of our four hospitals do not have running water," the CEO said. Florida's hospital association said 31 hospitals and emergency departments were running on generators, per the Wall Street Journal. "We know what's coming," South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster told residents. (More Hurricane Ian stories.)
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