Some residents from Chicago area find themselves stuck as Hurricane Ian slams Florida
NAPLES, Fla. (CBS) -- Hurricane Ian flirted with Category 5 status as it made landfall on the southwest coast of Florida Wednesday afternoon.
But officials warn the entire state will feel the impact – with torrential rain, catastrophic storm surge, and even tornado threats. Indeed, the powerful, lumbering storm is expected to batter millions.
Ian made landfall at Cayo Costa, Florida with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph. CBS 2 Meteorologist Mary Kay Kleist reported the winds had dropped only to 140 hours later – even with the hurricane having moved inland.
A flash flood warning was issued until 7:15 p.m. Chicago time for Charlotte, Sarasota, and Manatee counties – which include the cities of Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, North Port, Venice, Sarasota, and Bradenton. The National Hurricane Center said the flash flood threat is catastrophic.
As the hurricane presses onward, a corridor of rainfall is expected to bring up to 24 inches of rain – with the heaviest amounts to fall between Orlando and Daytona Beach before the hurricane moves on to the Carolinas and Georgia.
As CBS 2's Steven Graves reported, many people who are not used to such weather are dealing with Ian's impact. Some of them are from the Chicago area and have permanent or vacation homes in Florida.
Graves spoke to one couple near the eye of the storm. Tricia Gikas and her husband are from Lemont, and they are riding out the storm near Naples, Florida, just south of where the eye made landfall.
They say the hurricane forced winds are the worst part, and something they are not used to.
The retired couple spoke to us from their condo as the palm trees blew outside. This is year two for them of traveling to Florida during Chicago's cold season.
"I've been through snowstorms and tornadoes living in Lemont," Tricia Gikas said. "This is a little bit of a new experience."
Video near the Gikas' condo in southwest Florida shows flooding, intense and life-threatening storm surge, and fires sparking with downed power lines.
CBS 2 has learned numerous Chicago area transplants are in the storm's path. We talked with one woman over the phone who was unable to video chat because her Internet is out.
Meanwhile, Gikas is dealing with flickering lights. She made a last-minute decision not to fly out of Florida, and now she is dealing with their first major hurricane – boarding up windows.
"The wind - the noise from the wind is unbelievable," Gikas said. "When you hear that when you're inside, it's kind of a spooky feeling - because you can't really see anything because everything is boarded up."
No doubt, power outages could affect how people can stay in touch. There are thousands of line workers from Chicago and across the country headed to affected areas in Florida to help restore electricity.
Local Red Cross volunteers are also heading to disaster areas later this week.
CBS is teaming up with the Red Cross to help the hurricane victims. We have created a website through which you can send donations. Go to CBSNews.com/redcross.