WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (BNA): Revived Hurricane Ian set its sights on the South Carolina coast Friday and the historic city of Charleston, with forecasters predicting storms and flooding after the massive storm caused catastrophic damage in Florida and left people trapped. Role.
With a hurricane warning across the coast of South Carolina, a steady stream of vehicles left Charleston on Thursday, and many are likely to heed officials’ warnings to seek higher ground. Sandbags have been placed on storefronts to stave off rising water levels in a flood-prone area.
With winds rising to 85 mph (140 kph) by 1 a.m. Friday, Ian was expected to push a 5-foot (1.5 m) storm surge in coastal areas of Georgia and Carolina.
Rainfall up to 8 inches (20 cm) threatens to flood from South Carolina to Virginia, according to the Associated Press.
Ian came ashore Wednesday on Florida’s Gulf Coast as a brutal Category 4 hurricane, one of the strongest to ever hit the United States.
It has flooded homes on the state’s coast, cutting off the only road to a barrier island, destroying a historic waterfront pier, and shutting down electricity to 2.6 million Florida homes and businesses — nearly a quarter of utility customers. About 2.1 million of those customers remained in the dark days after that.
Study co-author Michael Weiner, a climate scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, said climate change added at least 10 percent of rain to Hurricane Ian.
At least four people have been confirmed dead in Florida, while three people have died in Cuba after the hurricane hit there on Tuesday.
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