After slamming Florida, Hurricane Ian barrels into South Carolina

As Hurricane Ian strengthens in the Atlantic and veers toward the South Carolina coast, officials are assessing the destruction wrought in Florida that is being characterized as likely the largest natural disaster in the state's history.

At least 19 people have died in the US due to the storm, which made landfall in southwestern Florida as a Category 4 hurricane Wednesday afternoon. Weakening to a tropical storm as it crossed the Florida peninsula, Ian has since intensified into a Category 1 storm packing nearly 85 mph sustained winds after reaching open waters.

Here are the latest developments:

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An Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft has indicated that Ian's maximum winds have increased to nearly 85 mph, according to a special update from the National Hurricane Center.

Ian is located about 185 miles south of Charleston, South Carolina, with a track that has shifted slightly to the east, the hurricane center said.

Landfall is now expected just west of Myrtle Beach.

Storm surge, high winds and life-threatening flooding are still expected for much of the Carolinas on Friday, the advisory said.

The city of Fort Myers Beach on Florida's southwest coast was leveled by Hurricane Ian, a local politician said late Thursday.

The city, with a population of around 5,600 people, is on Estero Island in the Gulf of Mexico.

Many people struggled to get to higher ground amid the storm surge, Allers said. 

Instead of where homes stood, there's only rubble, the council member said. 

“Every home pretty much on the beach is gone,” Allers said. “Some of the homes on the side streets are completely gone, and there's nothing but a hole with water,” he said.

Allers, who evacuated to higher ground during the storm, later discovered that his own home was lost.

"Everything obviously inside was gone," he said, although the structure survived. "We might be able to rebuild," he added.

Hurricane Ian is intensifying as it moves toward the coast of South Carolina and, according to NOAA Tides and Currents, it could hit the state around high tide on Friday.

In Charleston, a city that is especially vulnerable to coastal flooding, the high tide is at 11:41 a.m. ET. In Myrtle Beach, high tide is at 11:18 a.m. ET. 

Hurricane Ian is expected to move onshore near or just after these high tide times, according to forecasts. 

Why this is important: Tidal ranges along the Eastern Seaboard are much larger than they are in the Gulf of Mexico. Ian initially made landfall in Cuba before hitting the southwestern coast of Florida on Wednesday.

In Charleston and Myrtle Beach, the difference in water levels from high to low tide is around 6 feet. This could be critical because a storm surge of 4-7 feet on top of high tide will exacerbate the flooding in low-lying areas.

Gov. Henry McMaster told residents of South Carolina to pay attention to the warnings for Hurricane Ian's track ahead of the system making landfall Friday morning. 

McMaster said that residents should prep for the storm before it arrives.

“Doesn’t make much difference whether this comes in at Hurricane strength or below at storm strength or somewhere on the line, cause it’s going to be blowing strong winds and it’s going to be all over the state at different levels, as you can see if you go look at those maps,” he said. 

Hurricane Ian is shaping up to be the largest natural disaster in Florida history, according to the state's fire marshal.

Florida is also seeing its largest-ever emergency response, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Thursday night. In Florida, the state CFO also serves as state fire marshal.

“The United States Coast Guard has been amazing,” Patronis said. “They have done over 30 aerial rescues in the last 24 hours on 30 sorties.”

Meanwhile, 24,000 utility workers are trying to restore power.

The Florida National Guard has delivered teams to Captiva Island where a major bridge collapsed. Patronis said his crews are going door-to-door there, checking on people that may be stranded.

The fire marshal said the devastation in the Fort Myers area reminds him of the damage left behind by Hurricane Michael in 2018, when communities with older infrastructure and older building codes also took the brunt of the storm.

Following a tour of storm-ravaged parts of the state Thursday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said some of the damage he saw was “indescribable.”

At a news conference Thursday night, the governor said the worst damage was on Fort Myers Beach.

DeSantis said he is still not prepared to discuss a statewide death toll from Ian, but said they "absolutely expect to have mortality from this hurricane." A CNN tally of reports from local officials indicates that at least 17 people died in Florida due to the storm.

The governor said rescue crews are still responding to people on Sanibel Island, where the only bridge providing access to the island is now impassible, but most people they've encountered want to stay in their homes.

More than 2.2 million Florida customers are without power, as outages are slowly fixed, according to PowerOutage.us.

Earlier on Thursday, 2.6 million customers were reported to be in the dark.

Some of the counties with the highest percentage of customers without power are the southwestern counties of Hardee, Charlotte, Lee and Highlands.