Hurricane Ian Live Updates: Damaging winds and rain lash Florida; ‘two nasty days ahead’, says Governor DeSantis

More than 2.5 million people were under mandatory evacuation orders, but law no one could be forced to flee. The governor said the state has 30,000 linemen, urban search and rescue teams and 7,000 National Guard troops from Florida and elsewhere ready to help once the weather clears.
Florida residents rushed ahead of the impact to board up their homes, stash precious belongings on upper floors and join long lines of cars leaving the shore.
Overnight, Hurricane Ian went through a natural cycle when it lost its old eye and formed a new eye. The timing was bad for the Florida coast, because the storm got stronger and larger only hours before landfall. Ian went from 120 mph (193 kph) to 155 mph (250 kph) in just three hours, the second round of rapid intensification in the storm’s life cycle.
Ian’s forward movement shifted slightly southward, likely sparing Tampa and St. Petersburg their first direct hit a major hurricane since 1921.