Hurricane Ian: PM Modi offers condolences to US President Biden over devastation

“My sincere condolences and heartfelt sympathies to @POTUS @JoeBiden for the loss of precious lives and devastation caused by Hurricane Ian. Our thoughts are with the people of the United States in these difficult times,” tweeted PM Modi.

According to a report by CNN, at least 66 people are believed to have died because of Ian in Florida alone, and four people were killed in storm-related incidents in North Carolina, officials say. Ian also knocked out power for hundreds of thousands in the Carolinas Friday into early Saturday.

In western Florida’s Arcadia – dozens of miles inland – river flooding still covered part of the town like a lake on Saturday, making a state highway invisible and swallowing all but the roof of a gas station.

In hard-hit Fort Myers, where storm surge swallowed vehicles and many homes, reported CNN.

By Saturday evening, Ian had become a tropical cyclone that continued to weaken over southern Virginia. The National Hurricane Center said parts of West Virginia and western Maryland could see a few more inches of rain Sunday morning.

Ian slammed into southwest Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday, destroying coastal homes and flooding residents, particularly in the Fort Myers and Naples areas. CNN reported that it moved inland on Thursday, bringing strong winds and flooding to the central and northeastern regions.

The storm resurfaced Friday between Charleston and Myrtle Beach as a Category 1 storm in South Carolina, flooding coastal homes and cars and leaving hundreds of thousands stranded in the Carolinas and Virginia.

More than a million customers in Florida still did not have power Saturday evening, and more than 99,000 did not have power in North Carolina, according to poweroutage.us. 

With the inputs from ANI