Hurricane Ian: Florida pummelled by one of the most powerful storms in US history
One of the most powerful storms in US history has barrelled into Florida’s southwest coast with sustained winds of up to 150mph (241kph) and torrential rain.
Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa as an “extremely dangerous” category four storm but was close to being the maximum level of five (when there are winds of at least 157mph/252kph).
‘This storm is bigger than Florida’ – Hurricane Ian latest
Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa in southwest Florida. Pic: AP/NOAA
The “catastrophic” storm surge could be as high as 12-18ft (3-5 metres) above ground level in some areas, with “destructive waves” and “life-threatening” flooding.
Cayo Costa is about 90 miles (145 km) south of Tampa and just west of Fort Myers.
The landfall zone has miles of sandy beaches, scores of resort hotels and numerous mobile home parks.
Ian was expected to dump 12-18in (30-45cm) of rain across a broad area including Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville in the state’s northeast corner.
People were told to treat the winds as if a tornado was approaching by moving to an “interior room now”.
US President Joe Biden said Ian is incredibly dangerous, and he urged residents to obey all warnings related to the storm.
More than two million people were under evacuation orders.
Even as Ian lashed the coast in the final hours before it swept ashore, authorities put residents on notice that it was too late for anyone who had yet to evacuate to safely do so.
As the storm heads inland, it is expected to weaken, but residents in central Florida could still experience hurricane-force winds.
Over a million impacted by power cuts
Among the places set to be worst affected in the southwest are from Englewood to Bonita Beach, including Charlotte Harbour.
Residents “should urgently follow any evacuation orders in effect”, said the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
More than one million homes and businesses were without electricity.
Meanwhile, 23 people were missing off the Florida coast after a Cuban migrant boat sank due to the hurricane.
‘Life-threatening, catastrophic flooding’
The tropical storm conditions began in the southern state on Wednesday morning local time and the severe conditions are expected to continue overnight.
Heavy rainfall will spread across the peninsula throughout Thursday and reach parts of the southeastern US later this week and over the weekend.
About two-thirds of Florida is in the peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.
The NHC added: “Widespread, life-threatening catastrophic flooding is expected across portions of central Florida with considerable flooding in southern Florida, northern Florida, southeastern Georgia and coastal South Carolina.
“Widespread, prolonged moderate to major river flooding expected across central Florida.”
Hurricane Ian’s predicted path over the coming days
‘A nasty, nasty two days’
Mr Biden said he had spoken to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday about Ian, adding that the federal government had met every request for help from the coastal state.
“This is going to be a nasty day, two days,” Mr DeSantis said. “Probably, we think now, it will be exiting the peninsula sometime on Thursday.”
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Hurricane Ian tears across Cuba
Hurricane Ian leaves millions in Cuba without electricity
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Hurricane brings storms to Florida
Cuba working to restore power
Meanwhile, Cuban officials said they have begun to restore some power after Ian knocked out electricity to the entire island while devastating some of the country’s most important tobacco farms.
Ian hit the island’s western tip as a major storm.
It made landfall there on Tuesday as a category three storm, causing flooding, as houses were damaged and trees toppled in the strong winds.
Tens of thousands of people were evacuated and others fled the area ahead of its arrival.
A famine has been declared in Gaza City and the surrounding neighbourhoods.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – a globally recognised system for classifying the severity of food insecurity and malnutrition – has confirmed just four famines since it was established in 2004.
These were in Somalia in 2011, and in Sudan in 2017, 2020, and 2024.
The confirmation of famine in Gaza City is the IPC’s first outside of Africa.
“After 22 months of relentless conflict, over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions characterised by starvation, destitution and death,” the report said, adding that more than a million other people face a severe level of food insecurity.
Israel Gaza map
Over the next month conditions are also expected to worsen, with the famine projected to expand to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, the report said.
Nearly a third of the population (641,000 people) are expected to face catastrophic conditions while acute malnutrition is projected to continue getting worse rapidly.
Over the next year, the report said at least 132,000 children will suffer from acute malnutrition – double the organisation’s estimates from May 2024.
Israel says no famine in Gaza
Volker Turk, the UN Human Rights chief, said the famine is the direct result of actions taken by the Israeli government.
“It is a war crime to use starvation as method of warfare, and the resulting deaths may also amount to the war crime of wilful killing,” he said.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, has rejected the findings.
Israel’s foreign ministry said there is no famine in Gaza: “Over 100,000 trucks of aid have entered Gaza since the start of the war, and in recent weeks a massive influx of aid has flooded the Strip with staple foods and caused a sharp decline in food prices, which have plummeted in the markets.”
Another UN chief made a desperate plea to Israel’s prime minister to declare a ceasefire in the wake of the famine announcement.
Tom Fletcher, UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, said famine could have been prevented in the strip if there hadn’t been a “systematic obstruction” of aid deliveries.
“My ask, my plea, my demand to Prime Minister Netanyahu and anyone who can reach him. Enough. Ceasefire. Open the crossings, north and south, all of them,” he said.
The IPC had previously warned famine was imminent in parts of Gaza, but had stopped short of a formal declaration.
Palestinians struggle to get aid at a community kitchen in Gaza City. Pic: AP
The latest report on Gaza from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says there were almost 13,000 new admissions of children for acute malnutrition recorded in July.
The latest numbers from the Gaza health ministry are 251 dead as a result of famine and malnutrition, including 108 children.
But Israel has previously accused Hamas of inflating these figures, saying that most of the children who died had pre-existing health conditions.
The Ukrainian suspected of coordinating attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines had served in Ukraine’s Secret Service and in the Ukrainian Army’s special forces, Sky News understand.
Serhii K., 49, was arrested in northern Italy on Thursday following the issuance of a European arrest warrant by German prosecutors.
It is not known whether he was still serving at the time of the pipeline attack in 2022 and Ukraine’s government has always denied any involvement in the explosions.
According to sources close to the case, the suspect has been found in a three-star bungalow hotel named La Pescaccia in San Clemente, in the province of Rimini.
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Man arrested over Nord Stream attacks
When military officers from Italy’s Carabinieri investigative and operational units raided his bedroom, he didn’t try to resist the arrest.
The hotel’s employees have been questioned, but no further evidence or any weapons were found, the sources added.
Serhii arrived on Italy’s Adriatic coast earlier this week, and the purpose of his trip was a holiday. He was found with his two children and his wife.
At least one of the four people within his family had a travel ticket issued in Poland. He crossed the Italian border with his car with a Ukrainian license plate last Tuesday.
He was travelling with his passport, and he used his real identity to check into the hotel, triggering an emergency alert on a police server, we have been told.
A satellite image shows gas from the Nord Stream pipeline bubbling up in the Baltic Sea. File pic: Roscosmos via Reuters
After the arrest, he was taken to the Rimini police station before being moved to a prison in Bologna, the regional capital, on Friday.
Deputy Bologna Prosecutor Licia Scagliarini has granted the German judicial authorities’ requests for Serhii’s surrender, but Sky News understands the man told the appeal court that he doesn’t consent to being handed over to Germany.
He also denied the charges and said he was in Ukraine during the Nord Stream sabotage. He added that he is currently in Italy for family reasons.
While leaving the court, he was seen making a typical Ukrainian nationalist ‘trident’ gesture to the reporters.
The next hearing is scheduled for 3 September, when the Bologna appeal court is set to decide whether Serhii will be extradited to Germany or not. He will remain in jail until then.
In Germany, he will face charges of collusion to cause an explosion, anti-constitutional sabotage and the destruction of structures.
German prosecutors believe he was part of a group of people who planted devices on the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022.
Serhii and his accomplices are believed to have set off from Rostock on Germany’s north-eastern coast in a sailing yacht to carry out the attack.
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The explosions severely damaged three pipelines transporting gas from Russia to Europe. It represented a significant escalation in the Ukraine conflict and worsening of the continent’s energy supply crisis.
According to a US intelligence report leaked in 2023, a pro-Ukraine group was behind the attack. Yet, no group has ever claimed responsibility.
Spare pipes for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. File pic: Reuters/Fabian Bimmer
Sky News understands Genoa’s Prosecutor’s Office in northern Italy has requested their colleagues in Bologna to share the information related to Serhii.
Anti-terrorism prosecutors are investigating another alleged sabotage linked to the Russian shadow fleet oil tanker Seajewel, which sank off the port of Savona last February.
On Thursday, they asked an investigative police unit to figure out whether there is a link between that episode and the Nord Stream attacks.
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