Hurricane Ian has cut across Florida after making landfall near Cayo Costa with estimated sustained winds of 150 mph, unleashing catastrophic storm surge, destructive winds and widespread flooding before re-emerging over the Atlantic and making a second U.S. landfall in South Carolina. The scale of the Florida damage has triggered a major federal disaster response as search-and-rescue teams move into inundated communities and utilities confront millions of outages.

The National Hurricane Center’s 3:10 p.m. September 28 update placed Ian’s Florida landfall at about 3:05 p.m. EDT near Cayo Costa, west of Fort Myers, with maximum sustained winds near 150 mph and an estimated central pressure of 940 millibars. That made Ian a high-end Category 4 hurricane at landfall and one of the strongest storms to strike the state in the modern record.

Storm surge and wind arrived together

Hours before landfall, the National Hurricane Center warned that Ian was producing catastrophic storm surge, winds and flooding across the peninsula. The storm had strengthened to 155 mph offshore during the afternoon, just below Category 5 intensity, while a broad storm-surge warning covered much of Florida’s west coast and additional sections of the Atlantic coast.

By 5 p.m. Wednesday, the center of the storm had moved inland near Punta Gorda, but Ian was still carrying 140-mph sustained winds. The National Hurricane Center cautioned that damaging winds and flooding would continue well after the eye crossed the coast because the circulation was large and the storm was moving slowly across the state.

The immediate damage is especially severe in southwest Florida, where low-lying coastal communities experienced rapid inundation. Roads and bridges have been blocked or damaged, communications have failed in some areas and first responders have had to wait for dangerous winds and water to subside before reaching isolated residents.

The power system absorbed a statewide shock

Electric outages quickly became one of the clearest measures of Ian’s reach. A Department of Energy September 29 situation report counted at least 2.6 million Florida customers without power at 8 a.m., with more than 32,000 utility workers from 26 states preparing to assist with restoration.

The same report said several Florida ports were closed and noted that some oil and natural-gas production in the Gulf of Mexico had been shut in before the storm. Fuel inventories in the Lower Atlantic region remained within normal seasonal ranges, but evacuation traffic and precautionary purchases caused temporary retail shortages in some locations.

Power restoration will be constrained by more than damaged lines. Flooded substations, blocked roads and inaccessible barrier islands can prevent crews from safely assessing equipment. In the hardest-hit communities, restoring service may depend first on clearing debris and rebuilding local distribution infrastructure.

Federal disaster assistance expands

President Biden approved Florida’s request for a major disaster declaration on September 29. FEMA’s response update says the declaration initially authorized individual assistance in nine counties and provided 100% federal funding for debris removal and emergency life-saving measures for 30 days in those areas.

FEMA said the federal government had prepositioned supplies and more than 1,300 responders before landfall and was coordinating urban search-and-rescue teams, the Coast Guard, the Defense Department, Customs and Border Protection and state authorities. Nearly 5,000 Florida National Guard personnel were also participating in the response.

The state had begun preparing before Ian was named. Gov. Ron DeSantis issued Executive Order 22-218 on September 23, declaring an emergency in 24 counties while the system was still Tropical Depression Nine. A day later, Florida expanded the emergency statewide as Ian strengthened and its projected path remained uncertain.

Health and transportation systems are also disrupted

The Pan American Health Organization’s September 29 monitoring report, drawing on federal response data, said 176 Florida health-care facilities had been evacuated and at least 2.17 million people were without electricity. Nine airports, 25 ports and eight railways were reported closed at that point.

By September 30, PAHO reported 202 evacuated health facilities, more than 33,000 occupants in 257 shelters and boil-water notices in 19 counties. Those figures illustrate how a hurricane becomes a public-health and infrastructure emergency even after the strongest winds have moved away.

Ian then crossed the Atlantic and made landfall near Georgetown, South Carolina, on Friday as a Category 1 hurricane, according to the Department of Energy’s storm-response archive. Flooding risks now extend into parts of the Carolinas while Florida’s response shifts from immediate sheltering and rescue toward damage assessment and recovery.

The full scale is not yet known

Officials are cautioning that early casualty and damage numbers remain incomplete because some of the hardest-hit areas have only begun to reconnect with state and federal responders. Search operations are continuing, and assessments of homes, businesses, hospitals, roads, utilities and coastal infrastructure will take time.

What is already clear is that Ian combined several of the most damaging hurricane hazards at once: extreme winds near landfall, major storm surge, prolonged rainfall and extensive inland flooding. Its passage also occurred across a heavily populated part of Florida with dense coastal development and critical infrastructure exposed to both water and wind.

The immediate national task is rescue and stabilization. The longer-term challenge will be restoring power, water, transportation and housing across communities that experienced dramatically different forms of damage within the same storm. Ian’s final economic and human toll cannot yet be established, but the first days of response already place it among the most consequential U.S. natural disasters of the year.