Over two million without electricity as Ian causes major damage to Florida's power grid

Florida Gov Ron DeSantis warned that people should anticipate more power outages in central and northeastern Florida on Thursday morning, September 29, as storm Ian left more than two million customers without power.

DeSantis said that by early Thursday morning, there had been 2.02 million reported power outages, including 1.5 million outages in seven southwest Florida counties.

DeSantis said that crews were en route to Lee and Charlotte to reconnect the counties’ power supplies. “Lee and Charlotte are basically off the grid at this point,” he said. “It’s going to be more than just connecting a power line back to a pole.”

Searches for more medical personnel were underway as hospitals were without power overnight on Thursday, according to local news.

Ian made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 150 mph, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

Credit: Governor Ron DeSantis via Storyful