Jessica Wolfgang ’25, Staff Writer
Preparing for Catastrophe:
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) quickly started to inform the world about a horrible category four hurricane that was about to come through the coast of Southwestern Florida: Hurricane Ian. A hurricane is a huge tropical storm often located in the western north Atlantic region. There are five types of hurricanes, and they are categorized by their speeds. For instance, Category One is identified by 74-95 mile per hour (119-153 km/hr.) winds, whereas Category Five can have wind speeds of more than 150 miles per hour (252 km/hr.). Hurricane Ian was predicted to reach speeds that would put it in Category Four. Places in Florida began to brace for impact: schools in the area shut down, flights were cancelled, even Disney World would close for two days until Hurricane Ian’s Passing.
The Impact:
Passing through Cuba first with Category Three winds, it whipped through knocking out power, destroying more than 100,000 homes, and killing three people. The storm would not stop there. Instead, it decided to pass through Florida on Wednesday, September 28th. There were curfews in place from 10pm on Wednesday night, expiring at 6 am the next morning. As it passed through Florida, Hurricane Ian left around at least 2.3 million people without power, flooded local Florida areas, left behind millions of dollars in property damages, and at least 123 people confirmed dead. The storm also passed though North Carolina and Virginia leaving more fatalities in its path. Hurricane Ian was noted to be almost Category Five due to the damages and its top speed of 150 mph! The awful storm was notedly compared to Hurricane Charley, another Category Four hurricane that passed through Florida leaving about 16.9 billion dollars alone in residential damage and killed fifteen people in 2004.
The Aftermath:
Due to the damages and rapid speeds, Hurricane Ian has made the top five for most devastating hurricanes to hit the United States in decades. Both Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida and President Joe Biden have made speeches and plans of action on the matter. DeSantis was noted to have said that the ariel view of Sanibel Island’s damages “does not do it justice.” President Biden has promised long-term federal aid to the people of Florida after examining the damages. He says the number of damages that Hurricane Ian caused, will take Florida years to recover. Also, due to the Hurricane’s presence, there have been more debates over climate change and the term of action plans regarding it.
Conclusion
Hurricane Ian was a horrible category four storm that passed through Cuba, Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by the damages and loss of friends or family members that the storm has brought them.
