Hurricane Ian brought high winds, heavy rains, storm surges and intense flooding to Florida on Wednesday, making landfall in the afternoon and moving inland through the evening. Officials were preparing a major emergency response to help those affected by the storm. Around 1.8 million homes were without power on Wednesday evening according to tracking websites. The hurricane, a Category 4 storm out of a possible 5 on the Saffir Simpson scale upon arrival, made landfall near the city of Fort Myers on Florida's western coast. Footage from Fort Myers and nearby Naples showed major flooding, with floodwaters surging into homes and sweeping away vehicles. As of 11 p.m. local time (2300 GMT/UTC) the National Hurricane Center put the eye of the storm close to the Sebring race circuit, east of Tampa and south of Orlando. It was moving north-northeast.

Hurricane intensified after hitting Cuba
National Weather Service director Ken Graham had said on approach that Ian would be "a storm we talk about for many years to come... It's a historic event." DeSantis said thousands of personnel were assigned to respond to the storm with 250 aircraft, 300 boats and 1,600 high-water vehicles. Hurricane Ian had battered Cuba as a Category 3 storm just less than 24 hours before nearing Florida. Scientists have long sounded the alarm over how climate change can hike the intensity of extreme weather events.

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