Global Travel News

Rescue crews piloted boats and waded through flooded streets Thursday to save thousands of Floridians trapped after Hurricane Ian destroyed homes and businesses and left millions in the dark.

The devastation began to come into focus a day after Ian made landfall in Florida as one of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit the US. The storm flooded homes on both the state’s coasts, cut off the only bridge to a barrier island, destroyed a historic waterfront pier and knocked out electricity to 2.67 million Florida homes and businesses – nearly a quarter of utility customers. At least one man was confirmed dead.

Aerial photos from the Fort Myers area, a few miles west of where Ian struck land, showed homes ripped from their slabs and deposited among shredded wreckage. Businesses near the beach were completely razed, leaving just twisted debris. Broken docks floated at odd angles beside damaged boats, and fires smoldered on lots where houses once stood.

“We’ve never seen storm surge of this magnitude,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “The amount of water that’s been rising, and will likely continue to rise today even as the storm is passing, is basically a 500-year flooding event.”

Though downgraded to a tropical storm by Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center said storm surge and flooding rains remained a threat as Ian crept across the Florida peninsula and emerged in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cape Canaveral. Forecasters predicted Ian would regain strength while turning northward.

A hurricane warning was issued for the South Carolina coast, where the storm was expected to again make landfall.

Sheriffs in southwest Florida said 911 centers were inundated by thousands of stranded callers, some with life-threatening emergencies. The US Coast Guard began rescue efforts hours before daybreak on barrier islands near where Ian struck, DeSantis said. More than 800 members of federal urban search-and-rescue teams were also in the area.

In the Orlando area, Orange County firefighters used boats to reach people in a flooded neighborhood. At an area nursing home, patients were carried on stretchers across floodwaters to a waiting bus.

Despite the utter devastation in parts of Fort Myers, some people left shelters to return home Thursday afternoon. Long lines formed at gas stations and a Home Depot opened, letting in a few customers at a time.

Authorities confirmed at least one Florida death – a 72-year-old man in Deltona who fell into a canal while using a hose to drain his pool in the heavy rain, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said. Two other storm deaths were reported in Cuba.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said his office was scrambling to respond to thousands of 911 calls in the Fort Myers area, but many roads and bridges were impassable.

“We still cannot access many of the people that are in need,” Marceno told ABC’s “Good Morning America.

Emergency crews sawed through toppled trees to reach stranded people. Many in the hardest-hit areas were unable to call for help because of electrical and cellular outages.

A chunk of the Sanibel Causeway fell into the sea, cutting off access to the barrier island where 6,300 people live. It was unknown how many heeded orders to evacuate, but Charlotte County Emergency Management Director Patrick Fuller expressed cautious optimism.

No deaths or injuries have been confirmed in the county, and flyovers of barrier islands show “the integrity of the homes is far better than we anticipated,” Fuller said.

South of Sanibel Island, the historic beachfront pier in Naples was destroyed, with even the pilings underneath torn out. “Right now, there is no pier,” said Penny Taylor, a Collier County commissioner.

In Port Charlotte, a hospital’s emergency room flooded and fierce winds ripped away part of the roof, sending water gushing into the intensive care unit. The sickest patients – some on ventilators – were crowded into the middle two floors as the staff prepared for storm victims to arrive, said Dr. Birgit Bodine of HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital.

Ian struck Florida as a monstrous Category 4 storm, with 150 mph (241 kph) winds that tied it for the fifth-strongest hurricane ever to hit the US.

While scientists generally avoid blaming climate change for specific storms without detailed analysis, Ian’s watery destruction fits what scientists have predicted for a warmer world: stronger and wetter hurricanes, though not necessarily more of them.

“This business about very, very heavy rain is something we’ve expected to see because of climate change,” said MIT atmospheric scientist Kerry Emanuel. “We’ll see more storms like Ian.”

Even after weakening, Ian’s tropical storm-force winds still reached 415 miles (667 kilometers) from its center. Forecasters predicted the Atlantic waters would strengthen it to a Category 1 hurricane before it makes landfall Friday in South Carolina.

The National Hurricane Center warned storm surge of 6 feet (1.83 meters) or more was possible from Daytona Beach, Florida, to north of Charleston, South Carolina. Rainfall of up to 8 inches (20.32 centimeters) threatened flooding in the Carolinas and Virginia.

First published at Travel Industry Today

First published at TravelNewsHub.com – Global Travel News

Carnaby is back in fashion. Famous as a style centre of the swinging ‘60s, punk outpost in the ‘70s and designer depot in the ‘80s, the district (with pedestrianized Carnaby Street at the centre) had languished under gentrification in recent years, only to re-emerge as a vibrant shopping and dining destination in London with over 150 brands, boutiques, concept stores, and 60 independent restaurants, bars, and cafés.

Located just off Oxford Street and running parallel to Regent Street half-way down to Piccadilly, Carnaby is buzzing again, not least at the new three-storey Kingly Court, itself home to nearly dozen restaurants (featuring varied global fare) and central courtyard.

There are, of course, multiple bars and pubs in the area, ideal for pre- or post dinner drinks (London’s theatres are nearby), or as respite after shopping on Carnaby.

An interesting and fun choice is Cahoots cocktail bar, which fronts Kingly Street (beside the aforementioned Kingly Court) in the form of a train station, but is accessible from the Carnaby Street side too.

The venue – which channels its history as a former London underground station/air raid shelter from the war – is themed as a late 1940s/early ‘50s speakeasy set up in a disused station, and dressed up with authentic railway and post-war paraphernalia across multiple floors and three spaces (the ticket hall, control room and underground) comprising an “illicit base… flouting the rules of rationing, selling top-notch bootlegging cocktails and throwing sensational swinging parties late into the night!”

Cocktail names – presented in a newspaper-style menu – recall the era, ranging from a Winston Churchill to a Marilyn Monroe, Ginger Rogers, or Vera Lynn, or the cheeky “Eiffel in Love with a Soldier.”

Wine, spirits, and craft beers compliment the drinks menu, while “rations” range from steak and ale pie to desserts like Nana’s Classic Coffee Cake.

The trip to the blitz (without the bombing) is all good fun and follows the energetic theming of other bars in London, like Around the World in 80 Days. Music kicks in in the evenings, and a Saturday night (which is basically every night in London) probably requires reservations. Also check the web site for opening hours – it varies from mid-afternoonish to late (3 a.m.) depending on the day of the week.

With glass purposefully in hand, we at Travel Industry Today continue our series on some of the planet’s best bars, patios and rooftop venues. For more articles in the series, click here:

PREVIOUS ARTICLES: https://travelindustrytoday.com/pub-patio/

First published at Travel Industry Today

First published at TravelNewsHub.com – Global Travel News

Hurricane Ian made landfall in southwest Florida as one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the US, swamping city streets with water and smashing trees along the coast. The hurricane’s center struck Wednesday afternoon near Cayo Costa, a protected barrier island just west of heavily populated Fort Myers.

The massive storm was expected to trigger flooding across a wide area of Florida as it crawls northeastward across the peninsula.

Mark Pritchett stepped outside his home in Venice around the time the hurricane came ashore about 35 miles (56 kilometers) to the south. He called it “terrifying.”

“I literally couldn’t stand against the wind,” Pritchett wrote in a text message shortly after landfall. “Rain shooting like needles. My street is a river. Limbs and trees down. And the worst is yet to come.”

The Category 4 storm slammed the coast with 150 mph (241 kph) winds and pushed a wall of storm surge accumulated during its slow march over the Gulf of Mexico.

About 2.5 million people were ordered to evacuate southwest Florida before the storm hit. Though expected to weaken as it marched inland at about 9 mph (14 kph), Ian’s hurricane force winds were likely to be felt well into central Florida.

“This is going to be a nasty nasty day, two days,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said, stressing that people in Ian’s path along the coast should rush to the safest possible shelter and stay there.

Off the coast on Sanibel Island, just south of where Ian made landfall, traffic cameras hours earlier showed swirling water that flooded streets and was halfway up mailbox posts. Seawater rushed out of Tampa Bay as the storm approached, leaving parts of the muddy bottom exposed, and waves crashed over the end of a wooden pier at Naples.

Ian had strengthened rapidly overnight, prompting Fort Myers handyman Tom Hawver to abandon his plan to weather the hurricane at home and head across the state to Fort Lauderdale.

“We were going to stay and then just decided when we got up, and they said 155 mph winds,” Hawver said. “We don’t have a generator. I just don’t see the advantage of sitting there in the dark, in a hot house, watching water come in your house.”

The governor said the state has 30,000 linemen, urban search and rescue teams, and 7,000 National Guard troops from Florida and elsewhere ready to help once the weather clears.

Florida residents rushed ahead of the impact to board up their homes, stash precious belongings on upper floors and join long lines of cars leaving the shore.

Some decided to try and ride out the storm. Jared Lewis, a Tampa delivery driver, said his home has withstood hurricanes in the past, though not as powerful as Ian.

“It is kind of scary, makes you a bit anxious,” Lewis said. “After the last year of not having any, now you go to a Category 4 or 5. We are more used to the 2s and 3s.”

Ian made landfall more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Tampa and St. Petersburg, sparing the densely populated Tampa Bay area from its first direct hit by a major hurricane since 1921. Officials warned residents that Tampa could still experience powerful winds and up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain.

“Please, please, please be aware that we are not out of danger yet,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said in a video on Twitter. “Flooding is still going to occur.”

Ash Dugney warily watched ocean water being sucked out below a Tampa Bay pier Wednesday morning. He said he didn’t trust Tampa’s storm drainage system to keep his corner tuxedo rental business safe from flooding that he said has happened even during mild storms.

“I don’t care about the wind and the rain and the stuff like that, I just care about the flooding,” Dugney said, adding that he moved essentials out of the shop and moved other items up to above waist-high level.

Flash floods were possible across all of Florida. Hazards include the polluted leftovers of Florida’s phosphate fertilizer mining industry, more than 1 billion tons of slightly radioactive waste contained in enormous ponds that could overflow in heavy rains.

Isolated tornadoes spun off the storm well ahead of landfall. One tornado damaged small planes and a hangar at the North Perry Airport, west of Hollywood along the Atlantic coast.

More than 1 million homes and businesses were without electricity, and Florida Power and Light warned those in Ian’s path to brace for days without power.

The federal government sent 300 ambulances with medical teams and was ready to truck in 3.7 million meals and 3.5 million liters of water once the storm passes.

“We’ll be there to help you clean up and rebuild, to help Florida get moving again,” President Joe Biden said Wednesday. “And we’ll be there every step of the way. That’s my absolute commitment to the people of the state of Florida.”

Parts of Georgia and South Carolina also could see flooding rains and some coastal surge into Saturday. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp preemptively declared an emergency, ordering 500 National Guard troops onto standby.

First published at Travel Industry Today

First published at TravelNewsHub.com – Global Travel News