Hurricane Ian mini documentary dedicated to those who continue to rebuild

Recovery efforts continue after Hurricane Ian made landfall over Southwest Florida. The storm, which belongs in the history books, resulted in dozens of deaths, left millions without power, and caused billions in damage across the state.

Hurricane Ian made landfall near Fort Myers, Fla., on September 28, 2022, as one of the strongest and potentially costliest to ever arrive on Florida’s shores. The high-end Category 4 storm brought sustained winds of 150 mph, devastating homes, and businesses in its path. The storm surge reached at least 15 feet high, washing away entire communities.

Concerns about the storm were building for over a week before reaching Florida. On Monday, September 26th, just two days prior to the U.S. landfall, Ian ravaged portions of western Cuba, causing a complete failure of the island’s power grid. Eleven million people were left without power as the entire nation plunged into darkness.

Over the next two days, Ian continued to move north into the eastern Gulf of Mexico, putting the Tampa Bay Area under the gun for direct landfall—something that hasn’t happened in more than a century. However, the storm track shifted east, following a similar track that closely resembled Hurricane Charley’s in 2004. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for the entire state of Florida in response to the threat.

While similar in intensity to Charley -the last Category 4 storm to ravage Southwest Florida 18 years ago- the WindRadar indicated that Ian was nearly double the size, and there was a growing concern of catastrophic damage to a much larger area.

Hurricane Ian brought widespread damage, mostly through wind and storm surge to the cities of Ft. Myers and Naples, Fla. The waves reached the second story of homes and businesses, leaving structures unrecognizable once the water receded. Total insured losses are estimated to be upwards of $74 billion, making Ian one of the costliest U.S. natural disasters.

President Biden said in a FEMA press conference that the storm could end up as the deadliest in Florida's history. As of October 6, 126 people were confirmed dead state-wide from Ian; 58 of those deaths occurred in Lee County, and 24 occurred in neighboring Charlotte County. These two counties bore the brunt of Ian at landfall.

Hurricane Ian continued moving inland, bringing record-breaking rainfall and flooding to portions of central Florida. Almost every neighborhood in Orlando experienced flooding, with many of the city’s numerous lakes overflowed, leading to about 250 people being rescued. In the outskirts of Hurricane Ian, a few tornadoes caused damage to airplanes in Southeast Florida, while Key West recorded their third highest storm surge on record.

However, the storm was not done yet. Once it entered the Atlantic, it regained hurricane strength before slamming into South Carolina on Friday, September 30. More than a half-million customers lost power across the Carolinas, with an estimated peak storm surge reaching 10.77 feet in Myrtle Beach. Ian’s remnants continued to produce long-lasting rainfall and strong winds across the Mid-Atlantic before finally weakening.