Why water is receding ahead of Hurricane Ian's landfall
Sisters Selena Disbrow, left, Angel Disbrow, right, walk along the shore of Tampa Bay as water is pulled out from the bay by Hurricane Ian on Wednesday. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The National Weather Service in Tampa advised residents not to go near the beach even though water appears to be receding.
"The water WILL come back," the weather service said.
Water can recede when strong winds on the left side of the center of the storm push water out away from shore, according to CNN meteorologist Judson Jones.
A man walks through mudflats as the tide recedes from Tampa Bay on Wednesday. (Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images)
Tampa and Brandenton police also tweeted images of water receding.
CNN's Chad Myers explains more here:
Why storm surge is so dangerous: The National Weather Service says almost half of all deaths from tropical cyclones come from storm surge.
“A storm surge is a rise in water level caused by a strong storm’s wind pushing water on-shore,” according to CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller. “The wind literally piles up the ocean water and pushes it on the land.”
People walk along mudflats as the tide recedes from Tampa Bay. (Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images)
11:10 a.m. ET, September 28, 2022
More than 200,000 customers have lost power in Florida so far
From CNN's Jamie Loftus
The state of Florida has surpassed 200,000 customers without power, according to PowerOutage.us.
Collier County, which includes Naples and Marco Island, is still the most affected with over 43,000 customers out of power, according to the site.
The site also reports that Lee County, home to Fort Myers and Cape Coral, has over 40,000 customer power outages.
11:13 a.m. ET, September 28, 2022
Fort Myers, Florida, resident says they're sheltering in place because "we have everything we need here"
(CNN)
Fort Myers, Florida, resident Chelsye Lynn Napier, who is sheltering in place in a mandatory evacuation zone, told CNN Wednesday that she and her family "felt safer" staying put during Hurricane Ian.
"We have everything we need here, food, water, as of now, we still have electricity. It's all okay for now, we'll see later on," she said.
Asked if they have a plan for where to hunker down inside their home, Napier said, "We talked about it ... we would go into the laundry room," adding, "there's no doors, no windows, it's just a small, compacted area."
Napier said that a few people inside their complex have chosen to stay as well, noting that her neighbors living below her also haven't evacuated. "There's still a couple of us here," she said.
Earlier Wednesday, Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson said residents who have chosen to stay in their homes should shelter in place right now.
"We've got about 14 shelters open in the county, several thousand people have already gone to the shelters, but those who have chosen to stay home, they need to stay put right now. It's dangerous to go out there; there's the heavy rains, there's trees falling down, there's squalls, they're safer where they are," he told CNN.
Anderson said he is most concerned about storm surge, which the National Weather Service is predicting can get to up to 18 feet in the Fort Myers area.
He added that those who have a medical emergency can call 911 and get advice from responders, but there is no guarantee that EMS will be able to carry out rescues. As soon as it is safe, emergency response teams will be able to get into the field.
11:02 a.m. ET, September 28, 2022
Hurricane-force winds are approaching Florida's western coast, hurricane center says
Hurricane-force winds are approaching the southwestern coast of Florida, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center.
"Data from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that hurricane-force winds are approaching the coast of Florida near Sanibel Island. The Southwest Regional Airport in Fort Myers recently reported a wind gust of 62 mph," the NHC said.
An extreme wind warning is also now in effect for Cape Coral, Bonita Springs and Estero until 12:45 p.m. ET, according to the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay.
"Treat these imminent extreme winds as if a tornado was approaching and move immediately to an interior room or shelter NOW!" the weather service said.
11:02 a.m. ET, September 28, 2022
About 4,000 people are in shelters in Pinellas County, sheriff says
About 4,000 people have reported into shelters in Pinellas County, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said Wednesday, a small percentage of the about 352,000 people who were placed under mandatory evacuation orders ahead of Hurricane Ian.
Gualtieri acknowledged that he does not know if other residents decided to evacuate to a safer part of Florida not in the path of the storm instead of checking into shelters in the area. Many residents placed under mandatory evacuation orders may choose to stay with family or friends outside of the evacuation zone.
Still, Gualtieri said officials are concerned with the number of people in shelters and wondered how many are sheltering in place.
"So either they stayed in place or they went someplace else. I can tell you when we had Irma, by contrast, at this point we had 23,000 people show up. So I'm concerned that people didn't heed the mandatory evacuation order and they're sitting in places where they're going to be in peril when we get these winds and rain later today," he told CNN.
He reiterated the importance of these shelters and evacuation order, pointing to the lack of emergency responders once the weather conditions get rough.
"We're not putting our people in peril when [the residents] didn't heed the mandatory evacuation order," he said.
10:48 a.m. ET, September 28, 2022
Charlotte County Emergency Management director says he hopes people heeded the warnings and evacuated
From CNN’s Naomi Thomas
(CNN)
Patrick Fuller, emergency management director of Charlotte County, FL, said on CNN Wednesday that while he hopes people listened to advice and evacuated, now is the time for those that didn’t to “hunker down.”
“We’ve had those evacuation orders in place now for almost two days,” Fuller said. “That provided time for our residents to take heed and to leave the area that are most likely to be impacted by storm surge. So, our hope is that our residents listened and took the lesson of Hurricane Charley from 2004.”
“We hope that our residents did evacuate. We have shelters available, but now’s not the time to be on the roadways,” he said. “We’re beginning to experience these tropical storm-force winds and it’s only going to get stronger going forward.”
Fuller said that the influx of new residents in the last couple of years is a concern. Prior to and during hurricane season, outreach has been targeted toward them, “really trying to hammer home that if you’ve never been through a hurricane season, here’s what you should expect,” and trying to explain terms like storm surge and the vulnerability of the area.
He also noted that most emergency response agencies have stopped service at this point due to the winds. If a person calls 911 during the height of the storm, “we cannot come out and provide assistance,” he said, adding that they will talk people through their situations, but won’t immediately send help.
“Now’s the time to go head and hunker down,” he said. “And, unfortunately, with hazardous conditions, it’s not safe for anyone, emergency responder or not, to be on the roadways.”
Charlotte County is just north of Fort Myers and is the home of Punta Gorda, the Rotonda community and Port Charlotte.
City turns off water service to island of Venice, Florida
From CNN’s Amanda Watts
Potable water service has been turned off to the island of Venice, Florida, ahead of Hurricane Ian.
“The City Utilities Department has discontinued potable water service to the island of Venice at this time to protect our infrastructure," the city announced in a post on Facebook.
The water was turned off Tuesday night and will remain off for the duration of the storm, the city's website said.
The city will continue to monitor the situation and “when the storm's wind speeds drop below 35 mph, utilities staff will look for leaks in the system, make repairs, and restore service.” Once water is restored, the island will be under a boil water advisory.
The island of Venice sits between Tampa and Fort Myers on Florida’s western coast.
10:39 a.m. ET, September 28, 2022
Biden on Hurricane Ian: "We are on alert and in action"
President Joe Biden speaks during the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. (Evan Vucci/AP)
President Biden said the federal government is "on alert and in action" as Hurricane Ian bears down on Florida.
"We have approved every request Florida has made for temporary assistance, emergency assistance and long-term assistance," he said.
Planning included "dispatching hundreds of FEMA personnel and activating thousands of National Guard members," the President said.
A search-and-rescue team is already on the ground, Biden said.
"FEMA pre-positioned millions of liters of waters, million of meals and hundreds of generators," he added.
Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke yesterday. Biden also spoke with the mayors of St. Petersburg, Tampa and Clearwater on Tuesday.
