Satellites beam scary visuals of category 3 storm 'Hurricane Ian' near Florida from space

Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida around 12:35 am IST on September 29 and has caused significant damage in the state. According to the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Ian had grown into a category 4 hurricane before dying down to category 3 as of 5 am IST today. The NOAA also shared real-time imagery of the storm near Florida which has brought strong winds and flooding to the state. 

The NOAA's GOES-East satellites also captured the eye of Hurricane Ian before it hit the shores of Cayo Costa in southwest Florida and brought winds with speeds up to 241 km per hour. 

"There is a danger of life-threatening storm surge today through Friday along the coasts of northeast Florida, Georgia and South Carolina", said the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in its advisory issued at 2:30 pm IST. "Hurricane conditions are possible through Friday along the coasts of northeastern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina where a Hurricane watch is in effect," the advisory further said. 

The NHC also warned that central Florida will continue to face widespread, life-threatening catastrophic flooding. Moreover, the northern area of the state will witness a considerable amount of flooding besides southeastern Georgia and eastern South Carolina through the end of the week. So far, over 2.5 million people left southwest Florida whereas many were forced to stay since there was no time for evacuation. Hurricane Ian has uprooted many trees and caused massive power cuts leaving more than 1.8 million people in the state without electricity, AP reported. 

Astronauts spot Hurricane Ian from space

The International Space Station (ISS) flew over Hurricane Ian a few hours ago and NASA's Bob Hines, one of the astronauts aboard the orbital outpost shared a few pictures on Twitter. "This storm is HUGE! That’s the Mississippi River and New Orleans on the left. It covers the entire Florida peninsula! We could see through the eye just as it was making landfall. Praying for the safety of everyone dealing with Hurricane Ian," Hines tweeted.