Hurricane Ian slammed Florida
Homes and businesses are devastated after Hurricane Ian on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022, on Fort Myers Beach, Fla. – CRYSTAL VANDER WEIT, TCPALM/USA TODAY Network(https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/2022/10/11/photos-hurricane-ians-path-across-florida-and-along-u-s-coast/10466701002/)
Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S., made landfall on Florida’s Gulf coast on Wednesday,28th Sept 2022 afternoon. The Ian, Category 4 storm slammed the coast of Southwestern Florida with 150 mph (241 kph) winds and heavy rains knocked out power for 2.6 million residents as it continued to batter its way across the Sunshine State.
The death toll from Ian was up to at least 75 people on Monday, 3rd Oct 2022: 71 in Florida, 4 in North Carolina.
Gov. Ron DeSantis called the storm a “500-year flooding event.” President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in Florida on Thursday, 29th Sept. 2022.
Portions of State Road 70 are flooded from the rising waters of Peace River after Hurricane Ian on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022, in DeSoto County near Arcadia, Fla.- CRYSTAL VANDER WEIT/TCPALM(https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/2022/10/11/photos-hurricane-ians-path-across-florida-and-along-u-s-coast/10466701002/)
A shallow coastal shelf makes cities on the Gulf of Mexico more vulnerable to storm surge. While wind speeds grab our attention as a hurricane approaches, one of the more deadly and destructive aspects of these storms is actually the surge of water that moves over the shore and up into rivers and bays at landfall.The sudden rise of water topped by already high and powerful waves delivers an incredible battering blow to the coast, which can sweep homes off their foundations. The storm surge can flood low-lying areas miles inland.
Preliminary analysis of Hurricane Ian’s deadly storm surge suggests the Gulf of Mexico pushed as high as 15 feet above the normally dry ground on Fort Myers Beach, Florida, as it made landfall, the National Hurricane Center said Thursday, 13thOct .That’s the peak estimate reported by a team of experts with the National Weather Service and other agencies who searched flooded homes and structures in the devastated area for high water marks this week.
The 10-15 feet peak high water levels at Fort Myers Beach puts Ian among some of the higher storm surges in history in the Atlantic basin but well below peak water levels reported in some of the most legendary storms on the northern Gulf Coast.
This handout picture courtesy of the US Coast Guard aircrew from Air Station Miami, Florida, shows damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian around the Fort Myers area, Florida, on Sept. 29, 2022. – Hurricane Ian left much of coastal southwest Florida in darkness early on Thursday, bringing “catastrophic” flooding that left officials readying a huge emergency response to a storm of rare intensity. The National Hurricane Center said the eye of the “extremely dangerous” hurricane made landfall just after 3:00 pm (1900 GMT) on the barrier island of Cayo Costa, west of the city of Fort Myers.- US COAST GUARD/AFP VIA GETTY IMA.(https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/2022/09/29/aerials-show-damage-hurricane-ian-florida/8126128001/)
Insurers are bracing for a hit of up to $57 billion as they try to assess the damage from Hurricane Ian in Florida and South Carolina, risk modeling firm Verisk said on Monday, 3rd Oct 2022.The industry projection includes estimated wind, storm surge, and inland flood losses resulting from Ian’s landfalls in the two states, Verisk said.
“This is the costliest Florida storm since Hurricane Andrew made landfall in 1992 and a record number of homes and properties were lost due to Hurricane Ian’s intense and destructive characteristics,” said Tom Larsen, associate vice president for hazard and risk management at CoreLogic .
Reference Links :-
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/insurers-may-face-up-57-bln-hurricane-ian-bills-verisk-2022-10-03/
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2022/09/30/687623.htm
