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).
The storm surge, which has likely peaked, was as high as 12ft (3.6 metres) above ground level in some areas, and “life-threatening” flooding was predicted.
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.
The town of Fort Myers Beach was almost submerged by floodwaters, and some homes could be seen floating downstream, along with cars.
US President Joe Biden said Ian is incredibly dangerous, and he urged residents to obey all warnings related to the storm.
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More than two million people were under evacuation orders.
Cayo Costa is about 90 miles (145 km) south of Tampa and just west of Fort Myers.
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The landfall zone has miles of sandy beaches, scores of resort hotels and numerous mobile home parks.
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.
People were told to treat the winds as if a tornado was approaching by moving to an “interior room now”.
Over a million impacted by power cuts
More than one million homes and businesses were without electricity.
Meanwhile, 20 people were feared missing off the Florida coast after a Cuban migrant boat sank due to the hurricane. Four migrants swam to shore in the Florida Keys, and three others were rescued.
‘Life-threatening, catastrophic flooding’
The tropical storm conditions began in the southern state on Wednesday morning local time and the severe conditions were 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 National Hurricane Center (NHC) said: “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.”
‘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 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 well-known Iraqi social media influencer has reportedly been shot dead in her car by a gunman on a motorbike.
Om Fahad, whose real name is Ghufran Sawadi, was killed outside her home in Baghdad’s Zayouna district on Friday, according to the AFP news agency, citing security officials.
It appears the unidentified attacker pretended to be delivering food to the victim, one security source said.
Om Fahad, who has nearly half a million TikTok followers, became famous for posting light-hearted videos where she dances to Iraqi music.
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Six days ago, she shared footage of herself driving in a car and also posing in front of a mirror. They have each been watched hundreds of thousands of times.
The influencer was sentenced to six months in prison in February last year for sharing videos that a court ruled contained “indecent speech that undermines modesty and public morality”.
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A campaign was launched in 2023 by the Iraqi government to clamp down on social media content which broke the country’s “morals and traditions”.
The interior ministry set up a committee to look for “offensive” clips on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, with several influencers being arrested.
“This type of content is no less dangerous than organised crime,” the ministry declared in a promotional video which asked the public to help by reporting such content.
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“It is one of the causes of the destruction of the Iraqi family and society.”
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In 2018, gunmen in Baghdad shot dead Tara Fares, who was a model and influencer.
After years of war and sectarian conflict following the 2003 US invasion that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq has returned to some semblance of normality despite sporadic violence, political instability and corruption.
But civil liberties, particularly among women and sexual minorities, are still constrained in a conservative and male-dominated society.
The family of a missing high school student who may have been the first victim of a suspected serial killer in Mexico City have protested at the site where bones were found last week.
The bones were discovered with the belongings of at least six women, police said, and Amairany Roblero’s relatives have been told that evidence was found relating to her 2012 disappearance.
Ms Roblero was 18 when she vanished and, as is often the case in Mexico, her family was left to investigate her disappearance with little help from prosecutors.
Family friend Alejandra Jimenez said: “The prosecutors had the case file but they didn’t ever give any results to her parents.”
Instead, her parents printed flyers and gave them out near her school – the last place she was seen – but they had “nothing, nowhere to start, nor any directions to the end”, Ms Jimenez added.
A suspect, identified only by his first name, Miguel, was detained by neighbours and police last week after he is alleged to have killed a seventh young woman.
He is accused of waiting for a woman to leave her apartment and then rushing inside to sexually abuse and strangle her 17-year-old daughter.
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The woman returned to the apartment to see the suspect leaving and she was slashed across her neck before he ran off.
She survived but her daughter died.
Investigators searched a room rented by the suspect and found bones, mobile phones and ID cards belonging to several women in the same block, thought to be mementos.
Miguel is awaiting trial on charges of murder and attempted murder relating to the most recent victims.
City prosecutor Ulises Lara insisted the suspect was difficult to catch because “he showed no signs of violent or aggressive behaviour in his daily life”.
Ms Roblero’s family and friends were not accepting this, however.
“They (authorities) have all the means to look for missing people,” Ms Jimenez said. “Instead of focusing on their political campaigns, they should help all the women who are looking for their children.”
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Juan Carlos Gutierrez, a lawyer representing the family of another victim, was also frustrated, asking why no investigation had never been launched in that case, despite missing person reports being filed in 2015.
Ms Jimenez said Ms Roblero’s family had not been told which of the items or remains in the apartment had been linked to her, adding: “This is wearing her parents down physically, mentally.”
Some 2,580 women were murdered in Mexico in 2023, according to the country’s National Public Security System but poorly funded and badly trained prosecutors have failed to stop serial killers over the years.
In 2021 a serial killer in Mexico City killed 19 people but their bodies were only found, buried at his house, after the wife of a police commander became one of the victims.
In 2018 another serial killer in Mexico City murdered at least 10 women and was only stopped after he was seen pushing a dismembered body down the street in a pram.