“We’re seeing tree injury, horizontal rain, very excessive wind — I feel it’s a 100-plus [miles-per-hour wind] sustained exterior proper now,” Boone stated, by way of textual content message. “We now have a 50-plus-year-old oak tree that has toppled over.”

Boone left his two-storey residence nearer to the coast, the place surges had been anticipated to crest three metres or extra.

“We by no means wish to take care of water. Water, when it will get to that prime, is extraordinarily harmful, regardless of how excessive your own home is,” Boone stated.

Dozens of passengers had been stranded Wednesday at Orlando Worldwide Airport after their flights had been cancelled and the airport closed mid-morning.

An airport worker went round to clusters of passengers, telling them to maneuver to the meals court docket, the place they’d be directed to buses that will take them to shelters.

Amidou Kone had travelled to Clearwater for a weekend trip along with his two daughters. When his flight out of Tampa was cancelled, he tried Orlando. Now, he’s stranded. “We got here for a weekend journey, and now we’re caught,” he stated.

Paula Bowles was visiting household in Orlando and determined to move residence to Atlanta, however her flight was cancelled, too. “Being stranded is a sense like no person cares,” she stated. “It’s scary.”

Paul and Brittany Inglesby discovered themselves stranded with their toddler. They had been capable of finding a flight for Friday morning, however now they have to get by till then.

“It type of sucks as a result of we solely deliberate for thus many days, so we’re a bit bit low on diapers and stuff like that,” Paul Inglesby stated, “however we’ve received sufficient for now, hopefully.”

His spouse added: “When you’ve got a bit child with you, he takes high precedence. So, when he begins operating low on stuff, that’s when it will get type of terrifying.”

Robert and Debbie Gruver of Port Charlotte, Florida, stopped Wednesday afternoon at a South Carolina relaxation space. However they weren’t fleeing the storm; they had been driving again to their west Florida residence from a visit to Buffalo, New York.

The couple stated they’ve lived in Florida for 25 years and recalled Hurricane Charley, a class 4 storm that hit the state in 2004. They had been on their journey once they discovered of the menace from Ian.

The couple’s plan is to attend issues out in Savannah, Georgia, for a day or two, then head right down to Port Charlotte to survey any potential injury.

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“We now have a brand new roof so hopefully it’s nonetheless there,” Debbie Gruver stated.

“We deliberate on being again presently, however we didn’t plan on a hurricane,” her husband stated.

On the Hilton Backyard Inn in Fort Myers, friends — together with some pressured to evacuate their houses — sought refuge from the raging storm.

As of Wednesday morning, all 126 rooms had been booked, and other people had been nonetheless looking for a room on the lodge, close to the Southwest Florida Worldwide Airport.

“There was a particular inflow,” stated Kerry Collins, who works on the lodge’s entrance desk.

The lodge is in a flood zone and needed to swap to a generator after the ability went out.

“Anyone who’s staying with us has to signal a waiver saying we aren’t chargeable for something,” she stated.

After evacuating unnecessarily 5 years in the past for Hurricane Irma, Suzanne Meirink and her husband, Tom, determined to remain put a mile from the coast in Sarasota County and experience out Hurricane Ian.

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Their grownup youngsters weren’t pleased with the choice. First, Suzanne’s daughter in St. Louis known as urging her to go away. Then her son in Denver, who rarely calls, did the identical. Subsequent got here a daughter-in-law’s pressing textual content and a name from a grandson in Washington.

However the couple didn’t plan to budge from their apartment. As a substitute, they stuffed buckets of water, did laundry, stuffed their freezer stuffed with meals, and waited.

“We’re doing tremendous,” Suzanne Meirink stated. “That is the primary time I’ve disobeyed my youngsters. You’re allowed to try this as soon as.”

“The flamingos are having a hurricane occasion within the rest room; consuming, ingesting, & dancing.”

That was the tweet from Sunken Gardens, a botanic attraction in St Petersburg, Florida. A photograph confirmed the gardens’ flock of flamingos being sheltered in a restroom throughout Hurricane Ian.

St. Petersburg was hit with hurricane-force winds and heavy rains in the course of the storm, however appeared as of Wednesday night to have been largely spared the key results to the south.

AP

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