One of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the U.S., Hurricane Ian turned Florida streets into rivers, knocked out power to 1.8 million people, and caused catastrophic damage.
A coastal sheriff's office reported that it was getting many calls from people trapped in homes. The hurricane's center struck near Cayo Costa, a protected barrier island just west of heavily populated Fort Myers.
News anchors at Fort Myers television station WINK had to abandon their usual desk and continue storm coverage from another location in their newsroom because water was pushing into their building near the Caloosahatchee River. In Naples, the first floor of a fire station was inundated with about 3 feet of water, and firefighters worked to salvage gear from a firetruck stuck outside the garage in even deeper water, a video posted by the Naples Fire Department showed.
An airport employee went around to clusters of passengers, telling them to move to the food court, where they would be directed to buses that would take them to shelters.