Hurricane Ian is “probably going to be one of the worst hurricanes” the region has ever seen, Alvin Henderson, emergency management manager in Cape Coral, said on CNN’s “Inside Politics,” Wednesday.
“This is probably going to be one of the worst hurricanes that we’ve seen by all indications currently,” Henderson said, adding that the eyewall is starting to make land in the local area.
“For us here in the city of Cape Coral, we’re expecting to see that within the next 30 to 35 minutes,” he said. “So, we will see that heavy push of strong winds, 100 plus mile per hour winds, move ashore to us.”
As the eyewall comes across, there will be a brief period with potential sunshine, he said.
“That’s an area of concern that we have, make sure that our community understand the fact that this has a very well defined eyewall that, you know, after the initial surge, we’re going to have some nice clear weather, but then on the backside of that eyewall, we will see very rough weather coming back through the city and then having that strong storm surge push behind it,” Henderson said.
Henderson added that the community is planning for the worst-case-scenario but hoping for the best.
Those who haven’t evacuated will have to hunker down and wait, Anderson said. It’s not safe for any first responders to be on the road, “it would be a catastrophic response for them, so in the best interest of our first responders, they are all hunkered down in their respective fire and police stations throughout the city.”
They anticipate that the strong winds will subside sometime Thursday morning, and first responders will be able to return to field operations, with the first being to clear the major roads within the city and start surveying the impact.
