Hurricane Ian pounds Florida as a monster storm

Hurricane Ian plunged much of coastal southwest Florida into darkness Wednesday, as the monster storm brought "catastrophic" storm surges, wind and flooding that had officials readying a huge emergency response. The US Border Patrol said 20 migrants were missing after their boat sank, with four Cubans swimming to shore in the Florida Keys islands and three rescued at sea by the coast guard. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the eye of the "extremely dangerous" hurricane made landfall just after 3:00 pm (1900 GMT) on the barrier island of Cayo Costa, west of the city of Fort Myers. Dramatic television footage from the coastal city of Naples showed floodwaters surging into beachfront homes, submerging roads and sweeping away vehicles. Some neighborhoods in Fort Myers, which has a population of more than 80,000, resembled lakes. The NHC said Ian was packing maximum sustained winds of 150 miles (240 kilometers) per hour when it landed. It later weakened to a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 90 miles per hour, while still battering Florida with "storm surge, winds and flooding," the NHC said at around 11:00 pm local time Wednesday (0300 GMT). (Source AFP)