2m people in Florida lose power as hurricane Ian moves inland – as it happened

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The full extent of damage from Hurricane Ian is likely to remain unknown for some hours, with power and communications disrupted in many areas and some emergency responders forced to wait for the return of daylight and safer conditions before beginning a full search and rescue operation.

This blog will now pause, but at 2am Florida time, this is what we know.

• Ian has weakened to a Category 1 storm as it moves inland but continues to lash the state with torrential rain, with the National Hurricane Centre warning of catastrophic flooding across central Florida.

• The storm surge flooded a hospital’s lower level emergency room in Port Charlotte, while fierce winds tore part of its fourth floor roof from its intensive care unit, forcing staff to move the hospital’s sickest patients to other floors.

• In coastal Florida, desperate people posted to Facebook and other social sites, pleading for rescue for themselves or loved ones, the Associated Press reported. Some video showed debris-covered water sloshing toward homes’ eaves. A coastal sheriff’s office reported that it was getting many calls from people trapped in flooded homes.

• An estimated 2.2 million customers in Florida are without electricity, according to PowerOutage.us.

• Seven people had survived after a boat carrying migrants from Cuba sank near the Florida Keys, officials said, but rescue crews were still searching for an additional twenty people, the Associated Press reported.

• A Weather Channel meteorologist who has covered more than 90 storms in his career said that he had experienced nothing like Hurricane Ian in over 30 years.

• The governors of Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina all preemptively declared states of emergency, the Associated Press reported.

You can read our full report here

Flood risks remain as Ian moves inland

Ian has continued to weaken as it moves inland, with wind speeds dropping to 75mph, but the risk of deadly flooding and storm surges remains. In its 2am update, the National Hurricane Centre said the storm was continuing to move across Florida and was expected to reach the east coast later on Thursday.

Half the streets in Naples in south-west Florida have been rendered impassable by flooding. The Collier county administration has urged people not to drive to or around the city.

More than 2.2 million now without power

There are now more than 2.2 million Florida residents without electricity as the storm moves inland.

The Poweroutages.us website, which tracks blackouts across the US, shows that Okeechobee county in central Florida is the latest to be affected, with nearly three-quarters of customers losing power.

As it passes 1am in Florida, the full extent of damage from Hurricane Ian is likely to remain unknown for some hours, with power and communications disrupted in many areas and some emergency responders forced to wait for the return of daylight and safer conditions before beginning a full search and rescue operation.

While no deaths have yet been reported in the US, Ian killed two people in Cuba and a boat carrying 23 Cuban migrants sank Wednesday in stormy weather east of Key West.

The storm was one of the strongest to ever hit the US when it slammed into the Florida coast as a Category 4 hurricane, with winds of 150mph winds and a deadly storm surge of up to 18ft.

Winds have since dropped to about 90mph, but the National Hurricane Centre has warned that torrential rains pose risks of catastrophic flooding across central Florida. Storm surges may hit the east coast of the state on Thursday morning as Ian passes over and turns north to threaten Georgia and South Carolina.

The state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, said earlier on Wednesday that Ian would leave a permanent mark on Florida.

“Pray for people,” DeSantis told reporters. “There’s some storms that really leave an indelible impact … this is going to be one of those historic storms and it’s going to shape the communities in south-west Florida and have a profound impact on our state.

“This is going to be a rough stretch. So we just ask people for their thoughts and their prayers. This is a major, major storm.”

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All flights to and from Jacksonville airport on Thursday have been cancelled.

Hospital flooded as winds partially tear roof from ICU

The storm surge has flooded a hospital’s lower level emergency room in Port Charlotte, while fierce winds tore part of its fourth floor roof from its intensive care unit, a doctor who works there told AP.

Water gushed down from above onto the ICU, forcing staff to evacuate the hospital’s sickest patients – some of whom were on ventilators – to other floors, said Dr Birgit Bodine of HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital. Staff members used towels and plastic bins to try to mop up the sodden mess.

The medium-sized hospital spans four floors, but patients were forced into just two because of the damage. Bodine planned to spend the night at the hospital in case people injured from the storm arrive there needing help.

“The ambulances may be coming soon and we don’t know where to put them in the hospital at this point because we’re doubled and tripled up,” she said. “As long as our patients do OK and nobody ends up dying or having a bad outcome, that’s what matters.”

National Hurricane Centre update

In its 11pm update the National Hurricane Centre said Hurricane Ian was expected to move across central Florida overnight, bringing the risk of catastrophic flooding and damaging winds, before emerging over the western Atlantic late on Thursday and turning north towards the north-eastern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina coasts.

The centre said that winds had weakened to 90 mph, making it a Category 1 storm, but Ian was still forecast to be at near hurricane-force when it moved over the east coast of Florida on Thursday morning. The storm is expected to bring between 12 and 20 inches of rain to central Florida, with the risk of “widespread, life-threatening catastrophic flash and urban flooding”.

Nasa’s GOES-16 satellite captured this startling footage of intense lightning flickering around the eye of the storm.

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The storm has left more than 2 million people without power, according to Poweroutage.us. The site shows that in Charlotte and DeSoto counties nearly all households were without electricity, while Sarasota and Lee counties were also hard hit.

In Charlotte county, just north of Fort Myers, the sheriff’s office has imposed a curfew from 9pm-6am, while in Lee county all residents have been told to boil water for at least one minute before drinking.

Ian now a Category 2 storm

Hours after making landfall, Hurricane Ian’s top sustained winds had dropped to 105 mph (170 km/h), making it a Category 2 storm, AP reports.

Ian is expected to weaken further to a tropical storm as it marches inland at about 9 mph (14 km/h). Still, storm surges as high as 6 feet (2 meters) were expected on the opposite side of the state, in north-east Florida. More than 2 million people are now without power, according to Poweroutage.us.

Satellite imagery shows Ian’s progress

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has tweeted this footage of Ian’s devastating arrival on the Florida coast.