Hurricane Ian is expected to make landfall late Wednesday afternoon or early Wednesday evening somewhere north of Fort Myers and about 125 miles south of Tampa. As of Wednesday morning, Ian’s winds were at 155 mph — just shy of the most devastating Category 5 hurricane status.More than 2.5 million people were under mandatory evacuation orders, but by law no one can be forced to flee. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that the time to safely evacuate has passed.
The governor said the state has 30,000 linemen, urban search and rescue teams and 7,000 National Guard troops from Florida and elsewhere ready to help once the weather clears.Catastrophic storm surges could push as much as 12 feet to 16 feet of water over coastal areas straddling Punta Gorda and Fort Myers, which are between Naples and Sarasota, the hurricane center warned. Rainfall near the area of landfall could top 18 inches.