By the morning of Saturday October 1st the US
Coast Guard had saved more than 150 people and more than 50 pets during its
initial response to Hurricane Ian, Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan said on Friday.
The hurricane came ashore on September 28th as
a high Cat 4 / near-Cat 5 event near
Fort Myers, devastating the barrier islands along the coast to such an extent
that they were separated physically form the mainland
By Saturday morning the area surrounding Fort Myers was
still without power and widely submerged. At least 21 fatalities had already
been reported.
The USCG responded to at least seven migrant craft in
distress off Florida during the hurricane’s passage, including one sinking
incident in which 16 people are still missing and at least two were known to
have died.
USCG crews were also working to locate and fix displaced
or missing aids-to-navigation so that harbours could reopen for commercial
navigation. The Port of Key West had been restored to service after the local
ATON team corrected the main ship channel buoys, which had been blown more than
100 yards off station.
Hurricane Ian continued across central Florida and over
Orlando, weakening to a tropical storm before moving out over the Atlantic, and
re-strengthening to a Cat 1 hurricane before hitting the coast of South
Carolina near Georgetown, bringing a dangerous storm surge and winds of 85 mile
an hour.
Ports along the hurricane’s had path closed in advance of
the storm, but some had begun to reopen, including Port Canaveral and Jaxport,
which are open to commercial navigation in daylight hours. The port of
Brunswick, Georgia has also reopened, with restrictions.
Damage to small leisure craft was widespread and
significant.
