Wednesday, September 28, 2022, is a day that Southwest Floridians will never forget. Hurricane Ian brought catastrophic storm surge and damaging winds to our area, followed by historic freshwater flooding across much of central and northern Florida.
In total Hurricane Ian killed at least 156 lives, 105 in Southwest Florida alone. This weekend we look back and remember how the costliest hurricane on record for the state came to be.
At 5 a.m. on Friday, September 23, 2022, Tropical Depression Nine formed in the Caribbean. 18 hours later, Ian was officially a tropical storm tracking westward. Ian underwent its first rapid intensification and quickly grew into a Category 3 Hurricane as it made landfall in Cuba early on Tuesday, Sept. 27…