Hurricane Ian intensified to an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm on Wednesday as it barreled closer to Florida’s Gulf Coast, with residents emptying grocery shelves, boarding up windows and fleeing to evacuation shelters.
In an update, the U.S. National Hurricane Center put Ian’s location around 80 miles (130 km) southwest of Punta Gorda, Florida with maximum sustained winds of 155 miles per hour (250 km per hour).
While upgrading Ian an to an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 hurricane, the NHC said the storm was expected to weaken somewhat after reaching land.
