Homes were swept off their foundations and residents who resisted evacuation orders were left begging for rescue after Hurricane Ian crashed into Florida as one of the most powerful storms on state record yesterday.
The 500 mile-wide cyclone inflicted 150mph winds and a storm surge that meteorologists warned would reach an “unsurvivable” 18ft in places, as its eye made its first US landfall on the barrier island of Cayo Costa on the state’s Gulf of Mexico coast.
“There’s going to be damage throughout the whole state,” Ron DeSantis, the governor, said.
Hurricane Ian leaves two million without power
Celia Salazar and her grandson, Ricardo, check into an emergency shelter in Largo
WILLIE J ALLEN JR/ORLANDO SENTINEL/ASSOCIATED PRESS
A tide retreat in Charlotte Harbour, Punta Gorda, grounded boats
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The hurricane swamped a Florida hospital, flooding emergency rooms and forcing staff to evacuate patients. “We didn’t anticipate that the roof would blow off on the fourth floor,” Dr Birgit Bodine told AP, having
Danish foreign minister Jeppe Kofod said the damage to the pipelines was "intentional, not an accident" and that it should concern the whole of Europe.
He told Sky News: "This is unprecedented - we haven't seen that kind of attack or sabotage on critical European energy infrastructure.
"We do not take this very easy - it's something we are working closely on with allies in the EU and NATO."
Mr Kofod stressed it was important to allow investigations to take place before apportioning blame.
Experts expect teams with underwater drones will be sent to investigate, but say it could take a week or so before it's calm enough to do so.
Sky correspondent Alex Rossi said there are still some doubts about whether Russia would really resort to damaging the pipelines through which it sells its gas.
"Although you can see a benefit for the Russians in the sense that it makes energy prices go up, it creates political instability in European counties that are supporting Ukraine, it also is a bit of an own goal because they own the pipeline.
"Vladimir Putin could also just turn off the taps on and off. He doesn't actually need to blow up the infrastructure."
"Rapidly intensifying" Hurricane Ian has hit Florida's southwest coast with warnings it is set to cause a "catastrophic" storm surge and "life-threatening" flooding.
US President Joe Biden said Ian is incredibly dangerous, and he urged residents to obey all warnings related to the category four storm.
More than two million people were under evacuation orders.
Image:Hurricane Ian as it headed towards southwest Florida. Pic: NOAA
Ian's winds have increased to almost 155mph as conditions "rapidly deteriorate" along the coast.
The storm surge could be as high as 12-18ft (3-5 metres) above ground level in some areas, with "destructive waves".
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It is expected to dump 12-18in (30-45cm) of rain across a broad area including Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville in the state's northeast corner.
'Urgently follow evacuation orders'
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Among the places set to be worst affected in the southwest are from Englewood to Bonita Beach, including Charlotte Harbour, and residents "should urgently follow any evacuation orders in effect", said the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
And hurricane-force winds were predicted to extend well inland along near the core (innermost region of the storm).
An extreme wind warning was in place for Englewood, Rotonda and Grove City until 2pm local time (7pm UK time) and people have been told to treat the winds as if a tornado was approaching by moving to an "interior room now".
The Twitter account of NHC Storm Surge wrote: "Eyewall of Ian moving onshore! Catastrophic storm surge along with destructive waves are expected."
The eye of a storm is typically 30km (19 miles) in diameter. It is surrounded by the eyewall where the most severe weather and highest winds happen.
The tropical storm conditions began in the southern state on Wednesday morning local time and the severe conditions are expected to continue overnight.
Image:Hurricane Ian's predicted path over the coming days
Heavy rainfall will spread across the peninsula throughout Thursday and reach parts of the southeast later this week and over the weekend.
About two-thirds of Florida is in the peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.
The NHC added: "Widespread, life-threatening catastrophic flooding is expected across portions of central Florida with considerable flooding in southern Florida, northern Florida, southeastern Georgia and coastal South Carolina.
"Widespread, prolonged moderate to major river flooding expected across central Florida."
'A nasty, nasty two days'
Mr Biden said he had spoken to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday about Ian, adding that the federal government had met every request for help from the coastal state.
"This is going to be a nasty day, two days," Mr DeSantis said. "Probably, we think now, it will be exiting the peninsula sometime on Thursday."
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Hurricane brings storms to Florida
Meanwhile, Cuban officials said they have begun to restore some power after Ian knocked out electricity to the entire island while devastating some of the country's most important tobacco farms when it hit the island's western tip as a major storm.
Ian made landfall there on Tuesday as a category three storm, causing flooding, as houses were damaged and trees toppled in the strong winds.
Tens of thousands of people were evacuated and others fled the area ahead of its arrival.
Russia has restricted entry into its border region with Georgia after tens of thousands of men fled to the former Soviet state to escape the Kremlin’s mobilisation drive.
Officials in the Russian region of North Ossetia, which borders Georgia, ordered a limit on car travel to the republic on Wednesday. Sergei Menyaylo, head of the mountainous region, has put it on high alert.
As many as 10,000 Russians have entered Georgia every day since Putin’s declaration of “partial mobilisation” a week ago, Georgia’s interior ministry said. Unlike other border states Georgia has no visa requirements for Russian citizens.
Fears that Russia would close its borders have yet to materialise but it has already sought to stymie the flow of by setting up a draft office
A suspected Russian sabotage attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines was “probably premeditated and planned for” using an explosive device dropped into the sea weeks before it was detonated, according to a British defence source.
The European Union and Nato have described the large blasts in the Baltic Sea as a “deliberate act” of sabotage, with Russia labelled by Poland and Ukraine as the culprit, even as investigations continue.
The concrete and steel pipelines were torn open by apparent underwater explosions as strong as a minor earthquake, leading to three large gas leaks east of the Danish island of Bornholm. The blasts occurred in international waters, just beyond the territories of Denmark and Norway, and shockwaves were detected as far as 800 miles away.
Voters in four Russian-occupied provinces of southern and eastern Ukraine overwhelmingly agreed to their regions joining Russia in referendums regarded as sham plebiscites by Kyiv and its western partners.
The ballots showed support in Luhansk at 98 per cent, Zaporizhzhia at 93 per cent and Kherson at 87 per cent after a full count, Russian state news agency Ria Novosti reported. In Donetsk, approval was 99 per cent.
The hastily arranged vote took place over five days, with election officials, security forces and Russian soldiers going from house to house to ensure residents took part. Ukrainian officials denounced the exercise as voting under the barrel of a gun and reported instances of men being threatened with detention if they did not participate.
The results, which were never in doubt given the Kremlin’s orchestration of the snap vote, pave the way for a formal annexation of the four provinces as soon as this week.
None of the four territories are fully under Moscow’s control and Kyiv has vowed to continue its counteroffensives to take them back. President Vladimir Putin last week said Russia would use “all the means at its disposal” to defend the territories incorporated into Russia, alluding to the possible deployment of nuclear weapons to preserve what he sees as his country’s territorial integrity.
Putin also announced a call-up of 300,000 reservists and men of military age last week, in the first wartime mobilisation since the second world war. The order triggered protests and prompted tens of thousands of military aged Russian men to flee the country, many of them to Georgia and Kazakhstan.
Once the referendum results are in, Russia’s lower house of parliament will convene to vote on whether the regions should be incorporated into the federation. Analysts expected approval to be swift.
A final sign-off by Putin will be required. The Kremlin has signalled that he could address the nation on Friday, though it has not confirmed the event.
The Russian-appointed head of occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia said on Tuesday night that his region had de facto separated from Ukraine and was applying to join Russia. He is expected to visit Moscow this week to appeal to Putin to incorporate the province into Russia.
However, Valentina Matvienko, speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament, which would also need to consider any bill about annexing the Ukrainian regions, seemed to suggest a more drawn-out timeline. She said a session related to the outcomes of the referendums could be held on October 4, Ria reported.
Kyiv’s western allies reiterated their support for Ukrainian sovereignty and said they would never recognise the results of the referendum or a Russian annexation of Ukraine’s territory.
Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, said Washington would act quickly to sanction Russia should it follow through with any annexation of occupied areas.
“We are prepared and we will impose additional severe and swift costs on Russia for proceeding with the annexation,” Blinken said. “We will never recognise the annexation of Ukrainian territory by Russia.”
Ukrainian officials have warned that annexation could be a precursor to more extensive conscription of local men to fight alongside the Russian army. Some residents in the occupied territories also feared it could lead to a ban on the hryvnia, Ukraine’s currency
Tatiana Stanovaya, founder of the R Politik consultancy, said Putin would seek to “copy the Crimean model”, referring to Russia’s annexation of the peninsula following a similar snap vote in 2014.
“Military conscription offices . . . will then redouble their efforts to catch the defenders of the expanded Fatherland,” Stanovaya said. Since Putin launched mobilisation last week, a wave of discontent has swept Russia, with tens of thousands attempting to hide from conscription or fleeing the country.
Russia has been accused of blowing up two of its own gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea with the aim of destabilising Europe in the midst of its energy war.
The pipelines were torn open by apparent underwater explosions as strong as a minor earthquake, leading to three large gas leaks east of the Danish island of Bornholm. Shockwaves were detected as far as 800 miles away.
Both pipes are leaking gas into the Baltic Sea after suffering severe damage, scuppering any remaining hopes of Nord Stream 1 returning to service this winter.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said last night that the leaks were caused by sabotage and warned of the “strongest possible response” should active European energy infrastructure be
