The Palm Beach Post has continued our live coverage of Ian Thursday. Catch up with the latest here.
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A devastating high-end Category 4 Hurricane Ian continues to move inland across Florida's southwest coast Wednesday evening with sustained 115 mph winds.
Palm Beach County remained under a tropical storm warning Wednesday evening. Ian will weaken to a tropical storm as it crosses the state near Orlando and exits sometime Thursday near Daytona Beach.
More:Hurricane Ian: What Palm Beach County residents need to know Wednesday
Hurricane Ian updates from Tuesday:Tropical storm warning for Palm Beach County, schools closed
More on Hurricane Ian:What is open, closed Wednesday in Palm Beach County
More on Hurricane Ian:These restaurants are closed Wednesday for the storm in Palm Beach County
More than six thousand people were without power in Palm Beach County as of 8 p.m. Wednesday, according to the FPL Power Tracker. The total has fallen by more than 50% since 6 p.m.
Florida Power & Light said crews are working to restore power in areas affected Wednesday morning by Cat 4 Hurricane Ian's outer bands.
Hurricane Ian continued to batter the Florida peninsula with "catastrophic storm surge, winds and flooding" well into the evening.
According to the National Hurricane Center's 8 p.m. advisory, Ian was about 95 miles south-southwest of Orlando with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph.
The hurricane was moving north-northeast at 8 mph and is expected to cross central Florida Wednesday night and Thursday morning, before emerging over the western Atlantic by late Thursday.
Ian is expected to produce 6 to 8 inches of rain across South Florida and the Florida Keys.
The City of West Palm Beach announced that city facilities will reopen Thursday, including City Hall and the Mandel Library.
Hurricane Ian was about 5 miles east of Punta Gorda, about 100 miles south of Tampa, as of 5 p.m. Wednesday. Its sustained wind speeds were 140 mph, and it was moving north-northeast at 8 mph.
The center of Ian is expected to move across Central Florida on Wednesday night and Thursday morning and emerge over the western Atlantic by late Thursday.
Ian should weaken over the next day but could still be near hurricane strength when it moves over the Florida East coast Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center. Palm Beach County remains under a Tropical Storm Warning at least through Wednesday evening.
Palm Beach County's state-run health department, clinics and pharmacies operated by the health care district will remain closed on Thursday.
Patients of the district's C. L. Brumback Primary Care Clinics can request virtual visits by calling 561-642-1000. The closures don't impact Lakeside Medical Center in Belle Glade or the Trauma Hawk medical helicopter service, which are also operated by the district.
Palm Beach State College, Palm Beach Atlantic University, Lynn University, Everglades University, Florida Atlantic University and Keiser University extended closures through Thursday.
The closures come as South Florida continues to contend with Hurricane Ian's far reaching threat. Click here for a complete list of closures.
Palm Beach County offices will remain closed on Thursday, and PalmTran buses will not be running. County officials said they took the action in "an abundance of caution" as the county remains under a Tropical Storm Warning, with heavy winds likely and tornados possible.
The thousands of people without power across Palm Beach County got good news Wednesday afternoon. Florida Power & Light said crews began working to restore power in areas affected Wednesday morning by Cat 4 Hurricane Ian's outer bands.
More than 14,000 FPL customers in Palm Beach County were without power as of 4 p.m. Wednesday, according the FPL power tracker website.
"We’re continuing to work in between feeder bands with the men and women who are out in the field to get the lights back on as quickly and safely as possible,” said FPL CEO Eric Silagy during a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “We’re going to continue to do that throughout this event."
Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa, a barrier island off the coast of Fort Myers, at 3:05 p.m. It was an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 hurricane with winds at 150 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The hurricane is moving north-northeast at 9 miles per hour. Hurricane Ian is poised to bring hurricane-force winds to Florida's East Coast as it moves across the state.
The Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County will resume garbage pickup Thursday, after suspending its operations Wednesday. Residents should place all garbage, recyclables, yard waste and bulk waste at the curb by 6 a.m., the department said.
The City of Delray Beach and Village of Wellington announced that waste collection will resume for their residents Thursday as well.
All courts, including the 4th District Court of Appeal and the federal courthouse, will remain closed on Thursday due to Hurricane Ian. Appointments for passport applications, marriage licenses and wedding ceremonies can be rescheduled online.
Jury duty is also canceled Thursday. Jurors will receive a new summons mailed to their home with a substitute date for jury duty, according to the Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts. First-appearance hearings will take place at the Palm Beach County Jail.
Residents who need to pay a traffic ticket, file court documents, purchase certified court records or make child support or alimony payments should use the Clerk's online services while the offices are closed.
Keiser University's campuses in Palm Beach County and St. Lucie County will be closed Thursday. That includes the flagship campus on North Military Trail and the campus on Vista Parkway.
All Florida Atlantic University classes, including those online, are also canceled Thursday.
Students living on campus in Boca Raton and Jupiter are allowed to stay on campus, according to a university announcement. All dining halls will remain open and on regular schedules.
A decision about Friday classes and operations for the Boca Raton, Davie, Jupiter, Fort Lauderdale and SeaTech campuses will be made as information becomes available.
Hurricane Ian was located about 50 miles south-southwest of Punta Gorda and about 25 miles west-northwest of Fort Myers Florida as of 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Its sustained wind speeds were 155 mph, and it was moving north-northeast at 9 mph.
The center of Ian is forecast to move onshore soon - officially marking landfall - although the devastation has already started.
Storm surge from Hurricane Ian is overrunning areas of Naples, Sanibel and Captiva.
Sustained winds of 75 mph have been recorded at Red Fish pass on Captiva. A sustained wind of 77 mph was recorded on Sanibel Island with gusts of 107 mph. The Earth Networks station at the Naples Grande Beach Resort reported a gust of 112 mph, according to the hurricane center.
Ian is forecast to remain a major hurricane after landfall, but weaken to a tropical storm by the time it reaches the Orlando area early Thursday morning.
At an afternoon press conference, Gov. Ron DeSantis said there were an estimated 200,000 power outages statewide.
"That's a drop in the bucket compared to what's going to happen over the next 24 to 48 hours," he said.
FEMA and Florida are preparing for the worst.
It has 3.7 million meals and 3.5 million liters of water staged in Alabama.
The U.S. Coast Guard has staged 17 helicopters, 14 fixed wing aircraft and 18 small boats for immediate search and rescue operations with an additional 15 aircraft and 20 small boats on standby.
More than 1,300 federal workers are in Florida to help emergency operations.
Roughly 30,000 workers have been assembled to restore power and additional personnel are available. FEMA has 169 generators and 110,000 gallons of fuel and 18,000 pounds of propane readily available.
With more than 90 shelters open across the state, the American Red Cross is prepared to open 60 post-disaster shelters that can accommodate 30,000 people. Supplies are available for other agencies to open additional shelters to serve another 30,000 people.
With Hurricane Ian projected to skirt Lake Okeechobee, federal officials on Wednesday voiced confidence in the dike that protects Glades area residents from catastrophic flooding.
Having gone through $1.6 billion worth of repairs over the last 15 years, the Herbert Hoover Dike “is in better shape going into this storm than it has ever been,” said Jim Yocum, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Jacksonville.
Crews inspected the 143-mile lake this week and found no problems, he said in a statement.
In addition to the repairs, which are now 97% complete, the lake level is 2 ½ feet lower than it normally is at this time of year, he said. That means it can accommodate heavy rainfall that is expected as Ian crosses the state. It also means no releases are needed to increase the capacity of the 10th largest natural freshwater lake in the United States.
Since at least 2,500 people were killed when the lake breached an earthen levee in a 1928 hurricane, Glades residents have kept watchful eyes on the dike when hurricanes approach. Built and rebuilt over decades, it has never been tested.
Once the storm passes, Yocum said crews will return to inspect it to assess what, if any, damage was caused.
But he emphasized that Glades-area residents have no reason to fear a breach of the levee.
“The (dike) is safer today than it has ever been going into a storm,” the agency said in a statement.
Palm Beach County schools and district offices will be closed Thursday. Additionally, all after-school activities, including sports and school meetings are also canceled.
Hurricane Ian's eyewall is moving onshore of Florida's southwest coast in what is expected to be an unprecedented event of raging overhead storm surge and rending winds.
As of the 11 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center, Ian had 155-mph winds and was moving north-northeast at a crawling 9 mph. It is about 45 miles west-northwest of Naples and 50 miles south-southwest of Punta Gorda.
Ian rapidly intensified from a 120 mph hurricane early Wednesday morning to its current near Category 5 strength. There were no changes to the forecast track.
The storm is expected to make landfall in southwestern Florida in the next few hours as a "catastrophic" hurricane.
"This is a slow-moving storm which means it has a a lot of time for those incredibly strong winds to push water toward the coast, and they push, and push, and push," said Kait Parker, a meteorologist with The Weather Channel. "If the peak storm surge happens at high tide, no one who lives in that area will have ever seen anything like that before."
Hurricane center forecasters bumped up storm surge predictions to 12 to 18 feet in areas from Englewood to Bonita Beach.
Hurricane-force winds extend 45 miles from Ian's center. Tropical storm-force winds extend 175 miles from its center.
The popular Clematis by Night, a weekly Thursday celebration in downtown West Palm Beach, has been canceled.
Hurricane Ian is expected to still be working its way through the state Thursday, possibly reaching the Atlantic Thursday evening. Tropical storm conditions ma still be possible in West Palm Beach early Thursday with thunderstorms and gusty winds to 36 mph continuing through the evening, according to the National Weather Service.
The City of Riviera beach declared a local state of emergency Wednesday, closing its city facilities and suspending recycling, yard waste and garbage collection.
Hurricane Ian hasn't made landfall yet, but it has shut off power to tens of thousands of residents across South Florida and the west coast.
FPL's Power Tracker as of 9 a.m. Wednesday showed 5,230 households in Palm Beach County were without power.
Broward County had 7,950 households without power, while 18,010 households in Miami-Dade County were without power. In other areas:
The National Weather Service in Miami has confirmed a tornado was the cause of the extensive damage to Kings Point west of Delray Beach Tuesday night.
Meteorologist Robert Garcia said he doesn't know when a survey team will be able to review the damage, but the office was able to make confirmation through video and photos.
The NWS office in Miami oversees a 7-county area that includes Collier, Hendry and Glades counties, which are closer to Hurricane Ian's path.
Late Tuesday into Wednesday morning there were 10 reported tornadoes in Broward and Palm Beach counties. In addition to the Kings Point tornado, there was one report of a twister near Lion Country Safari.
"We're pretty much confirming these as tornadoes based on the radar signatures and the warnings we had up last night," said Robert Molleda, warning coordination meteorologist with the Miami NWS office. "We're in hurricane operations today so we're internally handling any damage assessment. As soon as we can get additional information from emergency managers, we'll put it out."
Brightline has reduced its departures to 12 on Wednesday with essential guest services open, but no baggage service or onboard service available until Ian has passed.
Tri-Rail is operating normally and has not made adjustments to its schedule. Palm Tran announced Tuesday it will not be operating Wednesday.
Palm Beach International Airport is encouraging passengers to keep track of their flight statuses with their airlines. FlightAware has reported 36 cancellations and four delays at the airport as of Wednesday morning.
Hurricane Ian is just 55 miles west of Naples and 60 miles southwest of Punta Gorda with sustained winds of 155 mph. That's just under Category 5 intensity, which starts at 157 mph.
The powerful and menacing tropical cyclone is moving north-northeast at 10 mph with a central pressure of 937 mb.
More:Hurricane Ian: What Palm Beach County residents need to know Wednesday
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More:Hurricane Ian tracker: Where is powerful storm headed next?
National Hurricane Center forecasters said Ian is expected to slow its forward advance today, but reach the coast this afternoon without weakening.
It should move over Central Florida Wednesday night and leave the sate by late Thursday.
No changes to watches or warnings were made at the 8 a.m. intermediate advisory.
Ian's ire has shifted south from Tampa Bay, where it was Tuesday, to Charlotte and Lee counties where deadly storm surge could peak at 16 feet in areas from Englewood to Bonita Beach.
"It could make landfall as a Category 5 but clearly this is a very powerful, major hurricane that tis going to have major impacts," said Gov. Ron DeSantis during a Wednesday morning press conference. "In terms of resources staged, we prepared for Dorian, that was a massive mobilization and we were ready if that were to hit Florida. This has been bigger and the assets we have are unprecedented in the state's history."
Hurricane Dorian sat over the northeastern Bahamas over Labor Day weekend in 2019 as a disastrous Category 5 hurricane.
While Ian's track slices diagonally across the Peninsula through Lakeland, Orlando and Daytona Beach, its cutting reach is much farther with tropical storm-force winds stretching up to 175 miles from its center. Hurricane force-winds extend up to 40 miles from the center.
The City of West Palm Beach closed its offices Wednesday except for essential services including public works employees, utilities workers and first responders. The library is also closed.
Sanitation services are suspended for Wednesday.
Riviera Beach has declared a local state of emergency, closing its facilities Wednesday.
The city postponed until further notice a community meeting that had been scheduled for Tuesday night, and it postponed until Friday at 6 p.m. the Community Redevelopment Agency meeting that had been scheduled for Wednesday evening.
Garbage, yard waste and recycling pick up has been suspended.
Hurricane Ian is now nearing Category 5 strength with 155 mph sustained winds as it approaches Florida's southwest coast. As of 6:30 a.m., Ian was 65 miles west-southwest of Naples. A special update will be issued by the National Hurricane Center at 7 a.m.
Category 5 winds start at 157 mph.
A suspected tornado flipped cars and damaged buildings at Kings Point in western Delray Beach late Tuesday, according to Palm Beach County Fire Rescue.
First responders were called just after 9 p.m. One woman was rescued from her bathroom after the roof collapsed.
Read the full story here.
Hurricane Ian is a dangerous Category 4 hurricane with 140-mph winds sitting on southwest Florida's doorstep at just 85 miles west-southwest of Naples. As of 5 a.m., it was moving north-northeast at 10 mph and has a minimum central pressure of 942 mb.
Ian is expected to make landfall Wednesday near Cape Coral as a 'devastating' major hurricane, but its destructive reach will cut a wide swath across the Peninsula.
Hurricane Ian:What is open, closed in Palm Beach County, including schools, transportation, restaurants
Tuesday's live blog:Hurricane Ian closed schools as Palm Beach County issued Tropical storm warning
Hurricane Ian supplies:How restaurants are responding to storm
Hurricane-force winds extend 40 miles from its center. Topical storm-force winds stretch a yawning 175 miles. Palm Beach County has an 80 to 90% chance of feeling tropical storm winds of over 39 mph beginning Wednesday morning. Hurricane-force winds have up to a 20% chance of strafing Palm Beach County, mostly in western reaches of the county.
Deadly storm surge of greater than 9-feet could drive deep into the Peace River in Charlotte County, and the Caloosahatchee River in Lee County. National Hurricane Center forecasters said the highest risk areas are from Naples to Sarasota.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is scheduled to hold a press conference at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday at the State Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee. Florida will not be rid of Ian for a while with its center reaching Central Florida late Wednesday night and clearing the coast Thursday.
More Hurricane Ian updates:What Palm Beach County residents need to know now
More on Hurricane Ian:Expect 'challenges in the days ahead,' says Florida Power & Light CEO
Wind gusts early Wednesday morning reached tropical storm-force speeds of 56 mph in Jupiter, 46 mph at the Juno Beach Pier and 42 mph in Boca Raton. The gusts were possibly part of the thunderous supercells in Ian's outer bands that had tornado warnings ringing through the night.
Palm Beach County is under a tornado watch through 5 p.m.
Continued streams of heavy rain are expected to move from south to north across South Florida Wednesday. A large area of 4 to 6 inches of rain has already fallen across most of the region. Additional rainfall through at least Wednesday night will be 2 to 4 inches with isolated amounts up to 8 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
Palm Beach International Airport recorded 3.18 inches of rain Tuesday.
Hurricane Ian's effect on NFL:Tampa Bay Buccaneers moving practices to Miami Gardens to escape storm
Meteorologist Ana Torres-Vazquez said it is unclear when the potential for tropical storm-force winds will subside in Palm Beach County.
"They will be subject to the coming and going of the squalls through the event (Wednesday) and (Wednesday night)," she said.
According to FPL's Power Tracker, 1,710 households were without power as of 5 a.m. Wednesday. In Broward County, 7,740 are without power and 15,780 in Miami-Dade County.
An estimated 15 tornado warnings were issued Tuesday night through 6 a.m. Wednesday in Palm Beach County as supercell thunderstorms in Ian's outer bands bullied through the area. One suspected tornado damaged buildings and flipped cars at Kings Point in western Delray Beach.
Palm Beach County's position in the outskirts of the dangerous right front quadrant of Ian is partly responsible for the numerous alerts.
Why hurricanes carry more tornadoes in that area is a complicated process that needs two key ingredients -- wind shear and thunderstorms.
Wind shear, which is a change in horizontal wind speed and/or direction with height, can be tilted vertical by a thunderstorm. The reason tornadoes happen on the outskirts of hurricanes is because the cores of hurricanes have warm air aloft, which doesn't provide the same combustible buoyancy to rising air as what occurs farther out from the center where air high in the atmosphere is cooler.
Kimberly Miller is a veteran journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate and how growth affects South Florida's environment. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com.
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