This is The Loop: your quick catch-up for this morning's news, as it happens.
Key events
- A tornado, storm surge flooding: The hurricane in pictures
- Hurricane Ian has dropped to Category 3
- Ron DeSantis warns 'do not be outside'
- Authorities expect extreme damage from Ian
- Houses floating away as result of storm
- How big is the hurricane? And where is it going?
- Cameras capture massive storm surge, sharks swept onto streets
- One thing to know now: 'Catastrophic' Hurricane Ian makes landfall
- More news while you snoozed: North Korea tests missiles on eve of US VP visit
- News Australia is searching for: Dally M medal
- One more thing: Blonde is here (and our review is in)
- Let’s set you up for the day
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Live updates
By Peta Fuller
That's it for The Loop this morning
If you're just joining us, here's what you need to know today, as the 'catastrophic' Hurricane Ian continues its sweep through Florida:
- Authorities expect severe damage
- A state of emergency has been declared in four states
- Florida's governor says storm surge hit 3.6 metres (12 feet) in some areas
- Video shows the storm surge damage in Fort Myer Beach, where the hurricane made landfall
- More than 1 million homes have lost power
By Shiloh Payne
Here's a look at where Hurricane Ian is located in Florida
By Peta Fuller
A tornado, storm surge flooding: The hurricane in pictures
Some early images are coming through, showing the damage from Hurricane Ian:
It's just gone 8:30pm in Florida's south, so the full extent of the impact won't be seen until morning.
By Shiloh Payne
Hurricane Ian has dropped to Category 3
Hours after landfall, top sustained winds had dropped to 125 205 kph, making Ian a Category 3 Hurricane.
Still, storm surges as high as 2 metres are expected on the opposite side of the state, in northeast Florida.
By Shiloh Payne
Space station captures Hurricane Ian making landfall
Here's some video from the International Space Station showing Hurricane Ian making landfall.
By Shiloh Payne
A curfew has been instated in Naples
The Collier County Sherriff's Office, which covers Naples, has imposed a mandatory curfew as a result of Hurricane Ian.
"A mandatory curfew is in place for all of Collier County between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am," The Sherriff's office said.
"The curfew is effective immediately and will remain in effect until further notice.
"The purpose of the curfew is to protect the safety of the citizens of Collier County and their property as they begin the process of recovering from the effects of Hurricane Ian.
"There is much unknown left to face with rising waters, debris on roads and many people have evacuated their homes and businesses.
" We do not want criminals preying on our residents and businesses at one of the most vulnerable times in their life."
The curfew doesn't apply to emergency responders, employees at health care facilities, critical staff for businesses that provide essential services or those seeking medical assistance.
By Shiloh Payne
There are 1.3 million people without power
More than 1 million Florida homes and businesses are without electricity.
By Shiloh Payne
Hurricane Ian tied for fifth-strongest in US
Ian's windspeed at landfall tied it for the fifth-strongest hurricane to strike the US, AP reports, along with several other storms.
Among them was Hurricane Charley, which hit almost the same spot on Florida's coast in August 2004, killing 10 people and inflicting $14 billion in damage.
Ian made landfall more than 160 kilometres south of Tampa and St. Petersburg, sparing the densely populated Tampa Bay area from its first direct hit by a major hurricane since 1921.
Officials warned residents that Tampa could still experience powerful winds and up to 50 centimetres of rain.
By Peta Fuller
Flood waves smash into doors as storm surge hits Naples
Naples is one of the big towns on Florida's west coast that copped the first hit from Hurricane Ian.
The fire and rescue department was among those places flooded in the storm surge:
And here's where Naples sits, just south of where the hurricane made landfall, near Fort Myers:
By Peta Fuller
A state of emergency has been declared preemptively in four states
The governors of Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina have all preemptively declared states of emergency.
Forecasters predicted Ian will turn toward those states as a tropical storm, likely dumping more flooding rains into the weekend, after crossing Florida.
By Shiloh Payne
Airports and theme parks close from hurricane
Airports in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Key West have closed as a result of Hurricane Ian.
Busch Gardens in Tampa closed at least through Tuesday, while Disney World in Orlando closed four hotels.
British tourists Glyn and Christine Williams were forced to evacuate their Tampa hotel.
When the couple arrived at the airport they realized they would be unable to fly out until Friday.
"We made our way to the airport to see if we could fly home early," Ms Williams says.
"But the flights were all full, so we couldn't go on. So they told us to come back today to see if we could get on today's flight. And now we hear that today's flights are cancelled."
"So we're here at least until Friday."
Since hotels are either full or evacuated they will be staying in a local shelter.
By Shiloh Payne
Tampa Bay water recedes ahead of powerful storm
Water receded in Tampa all day on Wednesday as westward winds from Hurricane Ian pulled water at the northern end of the storm out to sea.
By Shiloh Payne
Ron DeSantis warns 'do not be outside'
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has warned of significant damage across the state as a result of Hurricane Ian.
"155 mile an hour [249 kph] winds are incredibly dangerous," Mr DeSantis says.
"There will be debris in the air and flooding powerful enough to move cars around. So please do not be outside."
"This is a really, really significant storm. It will be one of the storms people always remember."
By Shiloh Payne
Governor: Hurricane to move through Florida
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says there has been a "life-threatening storm surge" in southwest Florida.
He says there's also inland flooding in the state.
"Local first responders will deploy as soon as it is safe to do so," Mr DeSantis says.
"It's going to move through the state of Florida, you're going to see hurricane-forced winds in central Florida.
But in more positive news, Mr DeSantis says meteorologists believe the storm surge has likely peaked.
"It will be less in the coming hours than it has up to this point, but we know that it has been a big storm and it's done a lot of damage as it is."
By Peta Fuller
The US National Hurricane Center has just given a briefing
Jamie Rhome, the acting National Hurricane Center director, said the Punta Gorda area had some of the strongest winds and that storm surge — which was so dangerous because "it was so quick".
The surge there was up to 12 feet or 3.6 metres.
"Unfortunately we got that storm surge that we were predicting. Many of you will have seen that footage on social media, it's very sad to see it unfold," he said.
And this is a bit of what it looks like in Punta Gorda, which is close to where the hurricane made landfall on the west coast:
By Peta Fuller
There's also a tornado watch for parts of Florida
The National Weather Service has put out this alert for the east coast:
By Shiloh Payne
Authorities expect extreme damage from Ian
Hurricane Ian is swamping streets with water and smashing trees along the coast while threatening catastrophic flooding across a wide area.
A storm surge is forecast to reach up to six metres.
Teresa Heitmann is the mayor of the Florida city of Naples and says authorities are expecting severe damage.
"We also are very concerned about our utilities," Ms Heitmann says.
"We want to make sure our water source is protected."
"There is a curfew in place now because so many people wanted to come out and see the action at the beach, which has put many people at risk."
By Peta Fuller
Governor Ron DeSantis is speaking now
He's taking questions from reporters and said the storm surge has been the greatest concern so far.
"Overwhelmingly, it’s been that surge that has been the biggest issue and the flooding that has resulted... In some areas, we think it’s hit 12 feet (3.6 metres)."
He said President Joe Biden was inviting the state to seek assistance and he had responded:
"We have now officially sent the letter with the request to the Biden administration for a major disaster declaration for all 67 counties," he said.
By Shiloh Payne
Passengers stranded after airport closures
Dozens of passengers were stranded at Orlando International Airport after their flights were cancelled and the airport closed mid-morning.
An airport employee went around to clusters of passengers, telling them to move to the food court, where they would be directed to buses that would take them to shelters.
Paula Bowles was visiting family in Orlando and decided to head home to Atlanta, but her flight was cancelled.
“Being stranded is a feeling like nobody cares,” she said. “It’s scary.”
