Hurricane Ian makes landfall in South Carolina again

Hurricane Ian made landfall in South Carolina on Friday after causing extensive damage in Florida earlier this week.

Ian’s center made landfall near Georgetown on Friday with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

Ian hit Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a powerful Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph winds, flooding homes and leaving nearly 2.7 million people without power.

Heavy rain swept across trees and power lines before making landfall, and by noon many areas of the Charleston Peninsula were submerged.

A popular pier in the beach community of Polis Island collapsed and floated.

In Myrtle Beach, surf is pounding the touristy part of the city, where thousands of tourists usually crowd the wide sandy beach.

Ian left swathes of devastation after making landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast in one of the strongest storms to hit the U.S. on record.

The storm inundated areas on both Florida coasts, with homes torn from slabs, waterfront businesses destroyed and more than 2 million people without power.

At least nine people have been confirmed dead in the United States, a number that will almost certainly increase as officials confirm more deaths and search for people.

Rescuers wade through the streets in boats on Thursday to save thousands of people trapped in homes and buildings devastated by Hurricane Ian.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday that rescuers had gone door-to-door to more than 3,000 homes in the hardest-hit areas.

“It’s really been a huge effort,” he said at a news conference in Tallahassee.

Climate change caused Hurricane Ian to increase rainfall by at least 10 percent, according to a study prepared immediately after the storm, said study co-author Michael Weiner, a climate scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Among the dead were an 80-year-old woman and a 94-year-old man whose oxygen machine had stopped working due to a power outage, as well as a 67-year-old man who was waiting to be rescued. Authorities said he fell into rising water at his home.

Officials fear the death toll could rise significantly given the vast area the storm has inundated.

At least three people were reported dead after the hurricane hit Cuba on Tuesday.

In Florida, businesses near Fort Myers Beach were completely razed, leaving twisted debris. The broken pier floats beside the damaged ship at an odd angle. There was a huge fire burning where there used to be houses.

“I don’t know how anyone could have survived there,” William Goodison said of the wreckage of the mobile home park where he lived for 11 years. He weathered the storm at his inland son’s house.

The hurricane ripped through the park with about 60 homes, many damaged or damaged beyond repair, including Mr Goodison’s.

Hours after weakening to a tropical storm while crossing the Florida peninsula, Ian regained strength over the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday.