Wednesday, December 15, 2021
On September 28, 2022, Hurricane Ian came ashore near Fort Myers with catastrophic storm surge, and most of the deaths that followed came from water.
On this day in 2022, Hurricane Ian made landfall on Cayo Costa in southwest Florida as a category 4 storm with sustained winds near 150 miles per hour. Storm surge along the Lee County coast reached 10 to 15 feet, and it arrived faster than many residents expected. Sanibel Island lost its causeway. Fort Myers Beach lost most of its buildings. Ian went on to cross the peninsula, flood inland counties with rain, and come ashore a second time in South Carolina.
The death toll in Florida was the highest from a hurricane in the state since 1935, and the largest share of those deaths were drownings in the surge zone. Many happened in homes that had ridden out previous storms without trouble. Wind categories describe the wind, and the water is what usually does the killing, but the number on the forecast is the one people plan around.
Evacuation zones exist because of that gap, and they are drawn for water, not wind. Knowing your zone letter now costs nothing and settles the argument at the worst possible moment, which is the practical half of how to be prepared for a hurricane. Coming back is its own phase, with contaminated water and no power for weeks, and that is the subject of dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane.
