Hurricane Ian hasn’t hit his Florida home yet, but the rain so far is like “a Tuesday night in Wellington”, according to Ralph Lambert, who used to live in the Windy City.
The category 4 storm made landfall in southwest Florida as one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the US.
Ian has swamped streets with water, knocking out power to 1.8 million people and smashed trees along the coast.
Lambert, who now lives in Leesburg Lake County in Florida, said it’s been raining for most of the day, and is anticipating the weather to get “really bad in about two hours’ time”.
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Former Wellington man Ralph Lambert is bracing for Hurricane Ian weather to take a turn for the worst in Leesburg Lake County where he currently resides.
“It’s really starting to pick up now. This will probably continue for most of the night,” he said.
He considers himself “lucky” because his household still has power.
“We’re lucky enough in Leesburg that we still have power at the moment because most of its underground compared to most cities… Fingers crossed, it’ll be a safe night. Just gotta watch those tornadoes.”
Hurricane Ian hit the coast with 241kph winds. More than 1 million Florida homes and businesses were without electricity on Thursday afternoon (NZ time).
The storm previously tore into Cuba, killing two people and bringing down the country’s electrical grid.
Linda Gross, who resides in Paraparaumu but has relatives living in Fort Myers Florida, said most of her family are without power, and dreading the weeks ahead as the storm moves north of Lee County.
“The hurricane stalled somewhat after making landfall, meaning Lee and Collier County residents endured category 4 – nearly 5 – intensity for an unusually long time.”
She said her family reported a “roaring wind that sounded like a jet engine that didn’t stop for hours”.
“The water in their toilets was sucked out by the pressure in the pipes and large trees were ripped out of the ground.
“At the worst point in the storm, in the middle of Hurricane Ian’s eye, my aunt texted me from her condo in Fort Myers, saying trees are coming down, and another building complex was on fire.”
Gross’ aunt said in the text she could see “sides of buildings flying by. The pressure must be dropping [because] my head feels like it’s going to explode. I feel like I can hardly breathe.”
Gross said the damage to her families’ homes appears “less than it is for others”.
“Our thoughts go out to those in this storm’s path,” she said.
Ian’s wind speed at landfall tied it for the fifth-strongest hurricane to strike the US.
Emma Gollan, who is originally from Rotorua but moved to Orlando Florida in 2011, said she had been experiencing, “high winds and tonnes of rain”.
“We can’t go out at all, it’s not safe for anyone to be out. Things started to close up by about noon. We had one pizza place open until about 5pm but by 7pm, everyone was home. No stores were open.”
She said she could see “a lot” of debris down within the neighbourhood.
There’s been no evacuation notice yet, and people are finding shelter wherever they can find it, Gollan said.
“Flooding and tornadoes are the main issue… We still have power.”
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