Ian's aftermath
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The view from a Durham neighborhood post-Hurricane Ian. Photo: Zachery Eanes/Axios
Hurricane Ian ravaged the coastal cities it passed through over the weekend.
- In North Carolina, the storm left hundreds of thousands without power and killed at least four people, leading President Joe Biden to approve an emergency declaration for the state, which will bring additional federal aid into North Carolina.
Yes, but: North Carolina saw far less destruction than it has from other hurricanes that have ravaged the state in recent years.
Details: More than 850,000 people across the Carolinas lost power over the weekend, Duke Energy said. As of Monday morning, 1,000 customers still did not have power, according to a Duke Energy outage map.
- Of the four deaths, three were in Johnston County.
- Two people died in car wrecks, one drowned in his truck and another died from carbon monoxide poisoning, the governor's office said.
Elsewhere in the state, wind gusts hit speeds of 59 miles per hour.
- The storm also brought significant flooding to some of the state’s most beloved coastal cities, like Southport and Ocean Isle Beach.
Zoom out: Flooding in South Carolina, where Ian made landfall, was more severe. Brian Henry, mayor of Pawleys Island in South Carolina, told CNN that the hurricane brought a storm surge "probably beyond what most people anticipated."
- "Most of us did not believe we would see the storm surge at 7 plus feet," Henry told CNN. "It's beginning to recede but we have a huge amount of water on the roadways and across the island."
The Hurricane is expected to cost private insurers $63 billion in claims, including the largest ever hurricane losses in Florida history, Bloomberg reported.
Threat level: North Carolinians largely breathed a sigh of relief Ian's impact on North Carolina, though deadly. But Ian's impact in Florida and South Carolina show the annual threat hurricane season still carries.
- Of note: It remains ongoing and meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center are currently monitoring two disturbances in the Atlantic Ocean.