Hurricane Ian is now a Category 2 hurricane with maximum winds of 168 km per hour, moving northeastward at 12 km per hour, according to a Wednesday night update from the National Hurricane Center.
The center of the storm was 136 km southwest of Orlando in the same state. On Wednesday night, the Punta Gorda airport measured a wind gust of 172 km per hour.
“Ian continues to batter the Florida Peninsula with catastrophic storms, winds and flooding,” the hurricane center noted.
According to Cody Fritz, a storm expert at the National Hurricane Center, the wave of storms in West Florida likely peaked, but flooding levels were high Wednesday night.
As Hurricane Ian moved through Florida, the storm surge along the west coast began to ebb, according to Fritz, a storm surge expert at the National Hurricane Center.
“The spikes likely occurred because the storm has weakened and continues to move inland,” he said.
However, Cody warned that flooding levels will take time to subside.
“There is still a lot of land flow along the coast keeping the water levels high, so while the peak peak values decrease here from the previous value, I still expect the waters to rise for a while and the need to maintain the storm warnings,” he said.
Source: CNN Brasil
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