September 28, 2022 Hurricane Ian updates

Thomas Podgorny is trapped in his two-story home in Fort Myers, Florida.

He is safe with three other people but he worries about his neighbors who live in one-story homes. 

“I’m concerned about all of them,” he said. “My only angle in sharing my story is to help my neighbors.”

His neighborhood is near the Caloosahatchee River in North Fort Myers. He said Hurricane Ian brought massive flooding and he has seen several vehicles float away.  

His family members have contacted emergency officials to help his neighbors, who he says did not evacuate, but he fears they won’t get there soon enough.

CNN’s Karen Smith contributed to this report.

 More than 1.8 million customers are in the dark in Florida on Wednesday night, according to PowerOutage.us.

Nine counties are reporting more than 50% of tracked customers without power. These include DeSoto County where 99% of tracked customers are experiencing an outage, Charlotte County with 98% of customers in the dark and Lee County with 97% without power.

In addition, nine more counties are reporting more than 10,000 customers without power.

Click here to track outages.

A flash flood emergency is in effect for south central Sarasota County, southeast Manatee County, northwest DeSoto County, Hardee County, and northwest Highlands County through 10:45 pm. 

The warning impacts over 300,00 people and includes the cities of Venice, North Port, Englewood and Arcadia.

According to the National Weather Service in Tampa, between 12 and 19 inches of rain have fallen in this area and an additional three to eight inches are possible. Heavy rain due to Hurricane Ian is producing flash flooding.

The rainfall totals over the past 48 hours are the equivalent of two to three months’ worth of rain for these locations. Many of the rivers were already in flood stage due to above-average rainfall in recent weeks. 

The aerospace engineer who flew through Hurricane Ian on Wednesday morning said it was the "roughest flight" he's been on — and that's after flying 76 times through 22 storms.

Underwood works with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study these major weather events, up close and personal. The crew flies into a hurricane and out the other side.

He told CNN that Ian was strengthening to a Category 4 just as the crew was flying through the storm.

"There was a ton of turbulence, both up and down," he said. "The lateral turbulence, which is honestly the most unsettling part of it — it was something else."

Though every storm is different, the turbulence and the amount of lightning were what set apart Hurricane Ian.

"We were flying through at night, but once we got into the eye, I was taking photos like it was daytime because there was just so much lightning outside," Underwood said. "It's really just those simple factors that really contribute to these storms growing in size. That ocean temperature, the low wind sheer, those kinds of things."

Watch the video from inside the aircraft:

The storm surge from Hurricane Ian has reached up to 12 feet in some areas, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a news conference on Wednesday. 

DeSantis said there could be hurricane-force winds in central Florida before the storm exits the state. 

“I think at landfall it’s going to be behind only the Labor Day Hurricane, Hurricane Andrew and Hurricane Michael in terms of intensity,” he added. 

DeSantis said that Hurricane Ian, at minimum, will be a very strong Category 4 hurricane that ranks as one of the top five to hit the Florida peninsula.

An extreme wind warning is in effect for these Central Florida cities — Sebring, Avon Park and Arcadia — until 9:30 p.m. ET as Ian approaches. 

Hurricane Ian has weakened to a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, according to the 7 p.m. ET update from the National Hurricane Center. 

The storm is expected to weaken further as it continues to push further inland in Florida. Still, dangerous winds gusts of more than 100 mph have recently been reported.

Key West International Airport is set to reopen Thursday at 7 a.m. ET, according to its website.

Airport crews will work throughout the night to prepare the airport to reopen, Richard Strickland, director of airports, said in a Facebook post.

The airport closed to all inbound and outbound traffic on Tuesday due to Hurricane Ian.

The state of Florida has surpassed 1.5 million customers without power, according to PowerOutage.us. 

Seven counties are reporting more than 50% of tracked customers as without power.

In addition, 10 more counties are reporting more than 10,000 customers without power.

You can track outages here.