https://zoom.earth/#view=24.69,-89.26,6z/map=live. Prayers to those in it's path.

I have a friend that has a winter home in Naples she's worried!

Looks to be a direct hit on my brother's home in Rotonda West. They left this morning saying they were heading to Miami and just got a text they are in Georgia. Apparently hard to find hotel rooms.

This guy has a plan.

More power to him! Like his idea

My wife’s whole side of her family is in Sarasota. I’ll be praying for them.

https://texasstormchasers.com/video/live-tracking-hurricane-ian-2022/

Adding to those prayers!

Yep. Either able/prepared or not. That simple. IF you are in a situation where you can ride out a major storm and take care of yourself good, much better than evacuating and dealing with all of that. Both times in my life that I've evacuated my home it was a mistake that ended up in a major cluster [censored]. Folks that were actually prepared faired just fine, but not everyone is though.

We evacuated our platform as usual days ago (have to) so it's real quiet at work right now, but won't be for long. It's a chore after a major storm to get a facility going again but all part of it.

Sister is home in NC, but house in Crystal River is at risk. Deck is only 4 feet above high tide normally. Will see what happens!

Close to being a CAT 5 hurricane.

Onshore now. Ft. Meyers Beach live cam is incredible. Just about to be submerged.

Now is the time when 911 switchboards, at least those still operating, are overwhelmed with people calling for help after refusing to leave when they had the chance. Saw a report earlier where officials were telling residents not to bother calling 911 because no one can reach them. And when it's all over, there will be many who will say they would have left if they thought it would be that bad. Happens every time with the really bad storms.

Yep, just saw a report of someone who stayed behind is asking for a helo rescue because her 2-story home's entire 1st floor is underwater. Not gonna happen with those winds.

It's just hard for some people to believe the wind can blow more than twice as hard as the worst thunderstorm they've ever seen and not stop for hours on end.

Crystal River is North of Tampa, and far north of where landfall will be. She'll be in the North west quadrant and won't get storm surge until after the eye has passed. That's good news for her.

I've heard Sarasota county 911 has shut down operations and said, if you didn't get out yet, you are on your own until after the storm.

As it should be.

Although the eye of hurricane Ian came in directly over Ft Myers the worst part of a hurricane is just to the right side of the eye where the winds are blowing directly into the land and in this case it was Naples that got hammered the hardest especially with the storm surge.

If you have been keeping up with it, the back side of Ian pushed all of the water out of Tampa Bay for a short while.

My BIL from California bought a house about 6 months ago on the barrier island across from Englewood, FL and just finished having the whole house remodeled before they moved in a month ago. They fled to a friends place in S. Carolina, talking about terrible timing,

My evil MIL was suppose to spend Christmas at her sons place in FL this year, if his place is destroyed that means I will have to put up with her for one day.
You bet your azz I am hoping the BIL house is in great shape

Two of my girls live in FL. I have no idea why, other than their husbands wanted to. Great fishing. Just plain silly to live there. I'm not living anywhere where my glasses totally fog up when I step outside eleven months of the year.

Reports of hotels gone, gone and fatalities over a hundred or maybe in the hundreds.