ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Hurricane Ian briefly reached optimum Category 5 status prior to compromising to a Category 4 storm as it blasted ashore last September in southwest Florida, ultimately triggering over $112 billion in damage in the U.S. and more than 150 deaths straight or indirectly, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Monday.
The report, which NOAA releases for all significant hurricanes, likewise says Ian was the costliest cyclone in Florida history and the third-costliest ever in the U.S. as a whole. In addition to Florida, Ian affected Georgia, Virginia, the Carolinas and Cuba prior to it broke down Oct. 1.
The NOAA report raises Ian to among the most effective cyclones on record as a Category 5 with winds approximated at 161 miles per hour (259 kph) on Sept. 28 after going by the Dry Tortugas islands. Although it deteriorated to a Category 4 storm when it struck Florida later on that day with winds of 150 miles per hour (241 kph), the storm is now on the list of lethal beasts such as Camille, Hugo, Andrew, Katrina, Wilma and Michael.
In addition to the winds, Ian produced significant storm rise throughout the southwestern Gulf coast of Florida. For example, the peak storm rise at hard-hit Fort Myers Beach was in between 10 and 15 feet (3 and 4 meters) above ground level. At close-by Sanibel, the rise was a high as 13 feet (3.9 meters).
“Ian made landfall in a region extremely vulnerable to storm surge,” the NOAA report says. “In southwestern Florida, the catastrophic storm surge and wind left a huge swath of complete destruction.”
Storm rise drowning was the leading cause of death throughout the storm with 41 deaths, with 12 extra casualties due to inland flooding in main and eastern Florida. There were 66 deaths in Florida straight attributable to the storm, NOAA concluded.
The U.S. overall of 156 casualties consists of indirect deaths such as cardiac arrest, electrocution from power lines, failure to reach medical help and vehicle mishaps. Of those, 84 remained in Florida.
Victims varied in age from 6 to 101 years of ages, however the mean age of storm-related deaths was 72, NOAA discovered.
“It is possible this is a reflection of demographics in the counties of southwest Florida but is consistent with other hurricane landfalls where the oldest die at the highest rates,” the report says.
More than 4.4 million consumers, or about 9 million individuals, lost power in the U.S. throughout Hurricane Ian from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1, NOAA discovered. Florida blazed a trail in power failures with more than 3 million consumers, with thousands more in South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.
More than $109 billion of the approximated $112 billion in storm damages took place in Florida, with more than 52,000 structures affected in Lee County alone and 5,369 entirely destroyed. Inland flooding from inflamed rivers, some at record levels, harmed or destroyed numerous structures in a number of main Florida counties.
The greatest rains amount to from Hurricane Ian was almost 27 inches (68 centimeters) at Grove City, Florida, simply north of the landfall place at Cayo Costa. Rainfall in between 10 and 20 inches (25 and 50 centimeters) was prevalent throughout Florida.
As for Hurricane Ian projections, NOAA says the track mistakes were lower than those over the previous 5-year duration while still acknowledging some trouble in figuring out the precise place of anticipated landfall. There have actually been concerns raised following the storm if the cautions sufficed to permit individuals, particularly the elderly, adequate time to get away.
“In general, storms that parallel a coastline tend to be more challenging to predict because a small change in heading can cause large differences in the landfall location,” the NOAA report says. “Ian was an example of this particular challenge.”
The fast surge likewise was challenging to anticipate. NOAA kept in mind that in this location, the projection mistakes were greater than those over the previous 5 years. Storm rise watches, on the other hand, were provided starting at 2 days prior to the start of hurricane winds at Fort Myers Beach and the forecast of peak rise increased from an optimum of 7 feet (2 meters) to 12 feet (4 meters) a day prior to Ian made landfall.
NOAA likewise kept in mind that its forecasters carried out 282 media interviews the recently of September which the National Hurricane Center website was accessed about 224 million times throughout the storm duration.
