Hurricane Ian unleashed devastation on southwest Florida after a 6ft storm surge plowed through Fort Myers destroying houses as water rengulfed two-story properties.
Horrifying footage showed wave after wave pummel the small city, swallowing buildings and cars as the monster tempest finally made landfall on Wednesday.
It sees the ‘unsurvivable’ torrent of water engulf palm trees in the tropical resort and rip some from their roots as it was forced forwards by 155mph winds – only the fifth storm in history to hit land at that speed.
Meanwhile Naples and Sanibel Island were also rocked by the ‘historic’ hurricane, with houses overwhelmed by water, debris flung through windows and some even ripped from their hinges.
Locals are reporting that hundreds of people in Naples are stranded on their rooftops, with the population of the town being made up mostly of elderly residents.
And in Martin County, the sheriff’s office confirmed that this morning the body of 34-year-old construction worker Cody Dudek was found face down near Palm City.
Across the state 1,103,460 households saw blackouts and Ron DeSantis said during a lunchtime update he expected the number to reach the millions as well as $45billion-worth of damage.
The Florida Governor urged residents who decided to brave the storm to stay in their properties or emergency bunkers while the hurricane blasted the coastline and neared on Category 5.
But some foolhardy locals ignored his pleas and flocked to the sea with inflatables and surfboards, while others gathered on piers to take risky photographs of the tempest.
It comes just days after Cuba was tormented by the vicious hurricane, which left millions of dollars of damage and at least two people dead.
Among the damage caused by Hurricane Ian in Florida today:
-Vehicles were flipped on to their roofs after two tornadoes erupted across the state due to the hurricane;
-Hundreds of thousands of homes across the south west of Florida were devastated by surging floodwater;
-A man raced into the sea to rescue a cat from the raging water, with him hoisting it to safety on his shoulder;
-Trees were ripped from their roots in multiple locations and power lines were torn from sidewalks;
-Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen are both hunkering down in Miami but staying in seperate homes;
-Patrol confirmed that 23 people were missing off the coast of Florida after a Cuban migrant boat sank;
-Emergency service personnel paused operations as the eye of the storm descended on the south west.
