93-3-3-WMR Audio on Demand presents the Preston and Steve show podcast.

And now, Preston and Steve's news update with Kathy Romano.

Today is Thursday, September 29th. Good morning, Kathy.

Good morning in the news this morning. Hurricane Ian left a path of destruction in southwest Florida,

trapping people in flooded homes, damaging the roof of a hospital intensive care unit,

and knocking out power to 2 million people before aiming for the Atlantic Coast.

One of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the United States barreled across the Florida Peninsula

overnight Wednesday threatening catastrophic flooding inland, the National Hurricane Center warned.

The center's 2 a.m. advisory said Ian was expected to emerge over Atlantic waters later on Thursday with

flooding rains continuing across central and northern Florida. In Port Charlotte, along Florida's

Gulf Coast, the storm surge flooded a lower level emergency room in a hospital as fierce

winds ripped away part of the roof from its intensive care unit. Water gushed into the ICU

forcing staff to evacuate the hospital's sickest patients, some of them who are on ventilators to other

floors. The law enforcement officials in nearby Fort Myers received calls from people trapped in flooded homes or from worried relatives.

Ian dropped in strength by late Wednesday to a category one with 90 miles per hour winds as it moved over land.

Still storm surges as high as six feet were expected on the opposite side of the state in northeast Florida on Thursday.

Hurricane force winds are expected across central Florida through early Thursday with widespread

catastrophic flooding.

Likely, the hurricane center said no deaths were reported in the United States from Ian.

This was by late Wednesday, but a boat carrying Cuban immigrants,

sorry, Cuban migrants sank Wednesday in stormy weather east of Key West.

The United States Coast Guard initiated a search and rescue mission for 23 and managed to find three survivors about two miles south of the Florida Keys.

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