Summary:
Hurricane Ian will bring a life-threatening storm surge along much of the Florida west coast where a Storm Surge Warning has been issued, with the highest risk from Fort Myers to the Tampa Bay region. Hurricane-force winds are expected in west-central Florida beginning Wednesday morning. Heavy rainfall may cause flash, urban, and small stream flooding over Florida this week. Impacted Lanes: I-75 and others
Florida
Storm Surge and Hurricane Warning remains in effect until Friday evening
- Wind: 85-105 mph with gusts to 130 mph
- Wind Impacts: Devastating to Catastrophic. Many roads impassable from large debris, and more within urban or heavily wooded places. Many bridges, causeways, and access routes impassable. Widespread power and communications outages. Structural damage to sturdy billings.
- Storm Surge: The potential for 7-10 feet above ground within surge prone areas.
- Storm Surge Impacts: Flooding of airport runways, roads and other areas along the costal regions of Florida. Surges are the rising of the sea above that of normal tidal patterns.
- Flooding rain: 18-24 inches of rain expected
- Impacts for Flooding rain: Numerous places where flood waters may cover escape routes. Streets and parking lots become rivers of raging water with underpasses submerged. Driving conditions become very dangerous. Numerous road and bridge closures with some weakened or washed out.
- Heavy Rainfall will increase across the Florida Keys and South Florida Tuesday, spreading into central to northern Florida on Wednesday and Thursday. It will move to the southeast by Friday and Saturday. The heavy rainfall will likely causing flash, urban, and water way flooding such as rivers, streams and canals
- Roadways: As Florida prepares for Hurricane Ian, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has suspended interstate lane closures and operations on active construction projects within the projected path. Contractors on these construction projects are currently securing work sites, clearing traffic control devices that are not actively being used to direct traffic, and checking drainage systems. At this time, tolls have also been suspended on facilities within the projected path of the storm. See a list of facilities here. For the latest storm information and safety alerts, visit FloridaDisaster.org. For real-time traffic information throughout the state, visit FL511.com.
