September 28, 2022 Hurricane Ian updates

By Adrienne Vogt, Elise Hammond, Aditi Sangal, Mike Hayes, Maureen Chowdhury, Seán Federico-O'Murchú and Meg Wagner, CNN

Updated 1:52 a.m. ET, September 29, 2022
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4:29 p.m. ET, September 28, 2022

More than 1 million customers without power in Florida

From CNN's Virginia Langmaid

More than 1 million customers are without power in Florida, according to PowerOutage.us.

The site reports that Lee County, home to Fort Myers and Cape Coral, is still the most affected with more than 330,000 power outages, which represents more than 70% of the utility customers.

Collier County, which includes Naples and Marco Island has more than 151,000 customers out of power.

In Sarasota County, which includes the cities of Sarasota and Siesta Key, there are more than 182,000 customers in the dark, according to the site.

4:12 p.m. ET, September 28, 2022

Target and Walmart to close stores in Hurricane Ian's path

From CNN’s Parija Kavilanz

Target is closing stores or modifying store hours at 70 of its locations in Florida that are in the immediate path of Hurricane Ian, according to the retailer. 

Residents across the state braced for Ian’s full impact after the powerful Category 4 storm made landfall Wednesday. Stores saw a rush of customers stocking up on essential and emergency supplies of bottled water, food and flashlights.

Target said it is mobilizing its supply chain to fast track critical supplies in the coming days to its stores in impacted areas.

Walmart said it was also temporarily closing its stores in areas that are in the storm’s path as a safety measure.

Walmart said it would give emergency assistance pay to employees in the affected stores as well as displacement assistance to employees that are mandatorily evacuated.

“Regarding the loss of power and reopening after the storm’s passing, we’ve taken steps to give us the best opportunity to resume operations once it’s safe to do so,” Walmart said in a statement that included a list of closed locations.

3:56 p.m. ET, September 28, 2022

Hurricane Ian tied as the strongest storm to hit the West Coast of Florida, CNN meteorologist says

From CNN's Brandon Miller

Hurricane Ian is now tied with Hurricane Charley in 2004 as the strongest storm to make landfall on the west coast of the Florida Peninsula, according to CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller. Both of those storms hit the coast with 150 mph winds.

Ian dropped slightly from 155 to 150 mph at landfall.

The storm surge has also set records for the highest water levels ever observed in several locations, according to Miller.

Water levels are still rising in Ft Myers as of Wednesday afternoon, but it is already higher than previous high water marks, with data going back to 1965. Naples water levels were already more than 2 feet higher than ever observed at 1pm, but the gauge stopped reporting data so it is unclear how high it reached, Miller said.

See the storm hit:

3:50 p.m. ET, September 28, 2022

More than 7,500 people are riding out Hurricane Ian in Hillsborough County shelters, sheriff's office says

From CNN’s Paradise Afshar

More than 7,500 people are riding out Hurricane Ian inside of shelters in Hillsborough County, Florida, according to the sheriff’s office. 

“We know the decision to leave behind your home and head to a shelter to ride out #HurricaneIan, is not an easy one to make,” the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. “Thank you for heeding warnings and making sure you and your loved ones are safe!”

Tampa, which is in Hillsborough County, is among the areas under a hurricane warning.  

3:42 p.m. ET, September 28, 2022

Cape Coral getting reports of significant structural damage across the city, emergency officials say

From CNN’s Naomi Thomas

Ryan Lamb, fire chief and emergency management director of Cape Coral, Florida, told CNN the city is getting reports of significant structural damage. 

“We’re getting reports of significant structural damage across our city, as well as significant rain,” Lamb said.

Lamb said that they have seen some storm surge as it pushed in the opposite direction to a limited degree and are now bracing as it potentially pushes toward a lot of the population mass and as the flow pushes into the city’s river and canal system. 

The significant calls that have been coming in are from people still in their homes who have experienced some type of roof, window or door failure.

3:38 p.m. ET, September 28, 2022

American Airlines expands fee waivers to 3 additional states due to Hurricane Ian

From CNN's Pete Muntean

American Airlines is waiving change fees for customers flying to and from Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina due to the path of Hurricane Ian and its impact on air travel. 

The airline had already waived change fees for flights to and from Florida. 

American Airlines has canceled about 600 mainline and regional flights on Wednesday, according to spokesperson Curtis Blessing. 

Blessing said the storm is impacting the airline's operation in Miami, the carrier’s fourth largest hub.

3:36 p.m. ET, September 28, 2022

Florida emergency director tells residents who didn't evacuate to "hunker down"

From CNN’s Jamiel Lynch

Punta Gorda, Florida, is beginning to feel heavy impacts from Hurricane Ian, Charlotte County Emergency Management director Patrick Fuller said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon, around the same time the storm made landfall.

“This is an intense hurricane, we expect that to persist throughout the evening into tomorrow,” Fuller said.

Fuller warned those who have not left that now is not the time to leave, and they need to hunker down. There are 60,000 people in the red zone that are under evacuations, Fuller said, though they are not sure how many got out ahead of the storm.

As of now, they have not received any critical calls, but Fuller warned that this is just the beginning. 

“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.

3:25 p.m. ET, September 28, 2022

Hurricane Ian has made landfall

From CNN's Judson Jones

Ian has officially made landfall, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Landfall occurred along the southwestern coast of Florida near Cayo Costa around 3:05 p.m. ET with winds near 150 mph, making Ian a high-end Category 4 hurricane.

3:36 p.m. ET, September 28, 2022

More than 800,000 customers are without power in Florida

From CNN's Virginia Langmaid

Florida has surpassed 800,000 customers without power, according to PowerOutage.us.

The site reports that Lee County, home to Fort Myers and Cape Coral, is still the most affected with more than 293,000 customer power outages.

Collier County, which includes Naples and Marco Island, has more than 129,000 customers without power.

Sarasota County, which includes the cities of Sarasota and Siesta Key, is at more than 112,000 customers without power, according to the site.