Hurricane Ian nears historic Category 5 status, closes in on Florida: Live updates

Hurricane Ian strengthened into an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm Wednesday and roared to the brink of Category 5 status, its maximum sustained winds blasting at 155 mph as it rolled toward the Florida Peninsula promising life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds and flooding.

Ian is forecast to make landfall Wednesday afternoon on the west coast of Florida as a “catastrophic Category 4 hurricane,” the National Weather Service said in a 7 a.m. advisory. The center of Ian was located 65 miles west-southwest of Naples.

“We are now forecasting a catastrophic storm surge of 12 to 16 feet from Englewood to Bonita Beach,” the advisory warned.

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Almost 70,000 homes and businesses in South Florida already were dark early Wednesday, according to the tracking website poweroutage.us. Power outages can be expected statewide, Florida Power & Light warned.

The National Hurricane Center said tornadoes also were a risk. Warnings and watches were issued as rain bands began sweeping across the state. 

“It is a big storm, it is going to kick up a lot of water as it comes in,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in Sarasota, a coastal city of 57,000 in the storm’s projected path. “This the kind of storm surge that is life threatening.”

The latest:

• Hurricane tracker: Where is Ian headed? See the map.

• Do you need to evacuate? How to stay safe as Ian approaches.

• Forecast: Ian likely to spend days dumping rain on Florida. Here’s the outlook.

Airports in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Key West were closed Wednesday. Orlando International was schedule to shut down at 10:30 a.m., and at least 700 flights were canceled by early Wednesday. Disney World theme parks and Sea World in Orlando all closed ahead of the storm.

A couple from England on vacation in Tampa found themselves faced with riding out the storm at a shelter. Glyn and Christine Williams of London were told to leave their hotel near the beach when evacuations were ordered. Because the airport shut down, they could get no flight home.

“Unfortunately, all the hotels are full or closed, so it looks as though we’re going to be in one of the shelters,” Christine Williams said.

WHAT IS STORM SURGE?: Explaining a hurricane’s deadliest and most destructive threat

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Ian nears historic Category 5 status, closes in on Florida: Live updates