Danger Alert: Hurricane Ian

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As you watch the news throughout the summer and the fall, it is not uncommon to see a hurricane that is striking the state of Florida or the Caribbean Islands. Massive winds, heavy rain, and scattering people are some of the things you may think about with a hurricane. However, when you start to hear the words of history books and fatalities, things become more serious. This is the case with the most recent Atlantic hurricane, Hurricane Ian, which has devastated a large amount of Americans and beyond.

On September 19, the National Hurricane Center began tracking a tropical storm that had the potential to become something much larger. As time drew closer, preparations were made in order for the safety of everyone. Mandatory evacuations were a part of this and were made across a large part of the Florida peninsula. Additionally, once the hurricane swirled closer, many schools, airports, parks, and restaurants closed. The life of an average Floridian would be affected for days to come.

(www.wikipedia.org)

To begin its path of devastation, it made its initial landfall as a category 3 storm on September 27 in Cuba. This left the entire island without any power. Since the country was already struggling with its economy before the natural disaster, it will be especially hard for them to recover and get back to a sense of normalcy. As the days passed, Hurricane Ian continued to strengthen and developed into a Category 4 hurricane. It made landfall in the Fort Myers and Naples area with wind speeds of around 150 mph. With these winds and heavy rainfall, widespread damage accumulated across many parts of the southeastern United States. This caused there to be approximately 2.4 million people in Florida who lost power from this storm. Not only were houses and temporary needs destroyed, but there have unfortunately been at least 137 total deaths due to this hurricane. In accordance with these statistics, Ian was added to the list of major hurricanes in the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season and was the deadliest hurricane to strike the state of Florida since the 1935 Labor Day hurricane.

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In terms of the aftermath of this hurricane, President Biden has stated that the storm could end up as the deadliest in Florida's history. He approved a state of emergency declaration for Florida on September 24. Even though Florida has received the most news coverage regarding devastation, states such as North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as Virginia, have also been affected by this natural disaster. As mentioned earlier, Cuba has also been massively affected by this disaster. In order to help bring them back to their feet, the United States has announced that it will provide Cuba with recovery needs of its own. This came about after the Cuban government issued a request for emergency assistance. Those requests are rare from Cuba, which simply shows the desperation and severity of the hurricane.

(www.theguardian.com)

While the hurricane itself may have dissipated on October 2, there is much work to be done in those areas to get back to where they were before. This is not on the small scale of things either; Ian caused catastrophic damage with losses estimated to be in excess of $67 billion. Much of this damage is due to the extreme flooding in certain areas. As there are still Florida schools that have not reopened and many families that have been left without homes and/or electricity, it is quite evident that this hurricane is not in the history books quite yet. When it does become a memory, however, it will not be easily forgotten by many Floridan and Cuban residents. Unfortunately, Hurricane Ian is the second-deadliest storm to strike the continental U.S. this century, behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005.