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Hurricane Ian swept ashore in Florida as a Category 4 storm today, the fifth strongest hurricane in U.S. history.
Ian flattened homes, marooned people and left 2.5 million people without electricity.
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Hurricane Ian pelted Florida with not only relentless rains, but also a dispiriting aftermath as it made landfall in Florida as a formidable Category 4 storm.
Atrocious winds whipped Florida at 155 miles per hour -- almost reaching Category 5.
Trees were uprooted with power knocked out to over 1.8 million residents.
A Naples fire station was inundated, as were seaside homes.
Vehicles were submerged as storm surge expected to reach 12 feet crept in.
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The storm turned streets into rivers as it roared onshore.
While having battered buildings across Florida, officials warned Ian is moving its reign of terror elsewhere.
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DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA Administrator:
Hurricane Ian is and will continue to be a very dangerous and life-threatening storm.
And this is going to be for the days ahead.
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NASA captured this unnerving footage of Ian roaming Florida right as it closed in on Cayo Costa on Wednesday.
In Port Charlotte, a hospital's roof was tattered, as staff plucked patients, some on ventilators, to safety.
News of a tornado toppling the roof of this home in Delray Beach gripped residents.
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Delray Beach Resident:
All of a sudden I felt something and then heard like a train coming right to the house.
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Ian's merciless gusts also turned small planes upside-down.
Later this morning, Ian's gruesome winds and intense rain rattled Florida to the core.
Experts say Ian is expected to weaken as it tramples inland.
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BILL KARINS, NBC News Meterologist:
As it begins to make its push inland, it will go from a Category 4, to a 3 to a 2 and probably to a 1 later on tonight.
But we still could see winds even in Orlando at 89 miles per hour.
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Life-threatening storm surges are expected for Georgia and South Carolina, where states of emergency are already in place.
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