Shocking Videos Show Storm Surge Tearing Through Areas of Florida as Hurricane Ian Makes Landfall

Hurricane Ian officially made landfall near Cayo Costa, Florida at 3:05 P.M. on Wednesday as a near category five hurricane with maximum sustained winds at 150 mph.

The National Hurricane Center continues to warn of “life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds and flooding in the Florida Peninsula” as millions are under evacuation orders.

Clips of the storm surge inundating coastal areas like Fort Myers, very near to where the hurricane made landfall, show the extent of the devastation.

The Weather Channel’s Mike Bettes posted a stunning clip from a street camera showing an intersection in Fort Myers completely underwater as winds raged.

“*RARE* first person view of storm surge. This camera is 6 feet off the ground on Estero Blvd in Fort Myers Beach, FL. Not sure how much longer it keeps working,” Bettes noted of the clip.

Other meteorologists shared clips from elevated balconies at coastal hotels showing the Gulf of Mexico below them. “That was the pool area of this hotel. It is now part of the Gulf of Mexico,” said CBS’s Manuel Bojorquez.

Charlotte County Emergency Management director Patrick Fuller warned as the hurricane made landfall that the storm surge would only continue to rise. “The storm surge, we are still at the very beginning of that. We will see that continue throughout the afternoon into the evening. It’s going to begin to fill up canals, overtop land, and potentially into homes. We are going to see life-threatening storm surge,” he said.

Evan Fisher created a graphic showing what the predicted storm surge would like in the Fort Myers area.

Below are more clips showing conditions ahead of Ian’s landfall, including a shark coming ashore and reporters dodging debris as they brave the elements:

For more on Hurricane Ian in the media, click here.