The death toll from Hurricane Ian’s wrath keeps mounting and by Thursday evening, reports indicated more than a dozen fatalities confirmed, according to reporting by CNN and the Tampa Bay Times. Meanwhile, The Associated Press was reporting one confirmed death. “The numbers are still unclear,” President JoeBiden said at a press conference earlier Thursday, “but we’re hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life.”
Search-and-rescue crews continue to be called out, traversing the floodwaters and in some cases using rescue helicopters, to help countless frantic residents from their homes – some from their rooftops. Thousands of those stranded have so far been rescued, according to officials.Ian pummeled much of central and southern Florida, dumping upwards of 18 inches of rain in many locations, submerging vehicles and leaving behind waist-deep floodwaters.
‘Stay put for now’: Jacksonville mayor warns residents to wait to return
By Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer
While the scene across Jacksonville, Florida, was calmer on Thursday than the previous day, the city’s mayor warned that residents should wait to return. “We still have another high tide,” Mayor Lenny Curry told AccuWeather Prime Host Adam Del Rosso and Assistant Chief Broadcast Meteorologist Geoff Cornish. “We ask people in certain zones to leave to avoid the surge and flooding. We don’t want them to go back home tonight. Let’s get through tonight and reassess tomorrow.”
He had feared, Curry had told the two reporters, that Ian would have looked like Matthew and Irma. The former had largely been a “beach event,” with storm surge at the northeastern Florida city’s beach communities, and Irma had been a St. Johns River event, flooding low-lying areas near the river. Fortunately, the impacts Ian brought to Jacksonville hadn’t matched the two storms.
Fernandina Beach experiencing ‘back-to-back-to-back’ storm surge
By John Murphy, AccuWeather staff writer
The tidal gauge in Fernandina Beach, Florida, is rising once again, indicating the beach is undergoing a third storm surge. At 4.68 feet and rising, the gauge is now recording the highest storm surge so far from Ian. On Wednesday, the first surge of about 3 feet came in during the afternoon and the second surge of almost 4.5 feet came in early Thursday morning. Thursday’s surge is the worst on record since the 1898 Georgia Hurricane.
