Hurricane Ian updates: Florida death toll climbs
Lee County, which encompasses Fort Myers, accounts for most of the fatalities.
The remnants of Ian are charging up the East Coast on Saturday after making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in South Carolina on Friday afternoon.
The monster storm made its first U.S. landfall on Wednesday on Florida's west coast as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, shredding homes with ferocious winds topping 150 mph. Florida's death toll has climbed to at least 81, according to information from local officials.
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South Carolina, North Carolina issue states of emergency
The governors of South Carolina and North Carolina each issued states of emergency on Wednesday afternoon in preparation for Ian's arrival.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said no evacuations or school closures have been ordered yet.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said the decision would help first responders and farmers and protect customers from price gouging.
The storm is expected to cross Florida and enter the Atlantic before making landfall again along the South Carolina coast over the weekend.
Over 1 million power outages
Over 1 million Florida customers were without power on Wednesday just after Ian made landfall.
The majority of outages were along the west coast in Sarasota, Lee, Charlotte and Collier counties.
Ian makes landfall as Category 4
Hurricane Ian made landfall on Florida's west coast Wednesday afternoon as a powerful Category 4 storm, slamming the coastline with powerful 150 mph winds and dangerous storm surge.
Landfall was at about 3:05 p.m. ET near Cayo Costa, an island off the coast of Fort Myers.
For southwest Florida, Ian “will probably be the big one that they always remember,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
The governor said Ian will likely stay in the state until Thursday, exiting from Daytona Beach.
Biden to visit FEMA on Thursday
President Joe Biden will visit FEMA headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to receive an update on Hurricane Ian, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
“We have deployed significant federal resources to the region to help prepare for the hurricane,” Jean-Pierre said at Wednesday’s press briefing. “We have more than 1,300 federal response workers on the ground in Florida. ... Three-hundred Army Corps personnel are on the ground to support power and fuel assessments. Three-hundred ambulances are supporting local officials, and multiple federal disaster medical assistance teams are deployed to Florida and Georgia.”
Gulf Coast, Tampa Bay area particularly vulnerable to hurricanes, expert says
Tropical Storm Ian is marching toward the Gulf Coast of the U.S., a region quite vulnerable to hurricanes.
The underwater geology of the Gulf of Mexico is what makes the Gulf Coast particularly unguarded to the massive influx of seawater, said Michael Brennan, acting deputy director of the National Hurricane Center, according to an article on Inside Science.
The symmetry of the Gulf of Mexico, with its shallow, sloping continental shelf, allows the storm surge to be pushed even higher onto land, Brennan told the outlet.
Because the land around the Gulf Coasts is typically flat, that exacerbates the flooding even more and allows the storm surge to travel farther inland, Brennan said.
"Of all of the hazards of hurricanes --- winds, rain, storm surges –-- surges are what can cause the largest loss of life," Brennan told Inside Science.
The Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg area, one of the regions bracing for Ian, is especially vulnerable to storm surge flooding but has avoided a direct hit from a strong hurricane since 1921.
Editor's Note: This post has been updated to reflect proper attribution to Inside Science.
-ABC News' Max Golembo