September 28, 2022 Hurricane Ian updates

Nick Underwood, a hurricane hunter who has flown through storms for years, said his flight to Hurricane Ian was "the worst I've ever been on."

"I've never seen so much lightning in an eye," Underwood tweeted, showing the bright curvature of the eye at night.

Underwood said he circled the eye to release an uncrewed aerial system.

"I’m glad we only did one pass," he added.

Underwood later shared video of the bumpy ride from inside the plane, calling it the "roughest flight of my career."

Watch the video:

Landfall is expected any minute when half of Hurricane Ian's eye has moved over the coastline.

The center of the hurricane is only 25 miles west-northwest of Fort Myers, according to the National Hurricane Center's 2 p.m. ET update.

Hurricane-force winds and gusts are spreading inland across central Florida. Here are some of the numbers:

President Biden will visit the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington, DC, on Thursday, the White House announced. 

Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday, White House press secretary Kaine Jean-Pierre said Biden will "visit FEMA headquarters to receive a briefing on federal response efforts for hurricane Ian."

Jean-Pierre added that Biden has been “receiving regular briefings” on the hurricane “throughout these last couple of days.” 

Asked how regularly the President was being briefed, but said he was “very much keeping an eye on what is happening with the storm.”

She said the President has been “all hands-on deck” with storm response. 

More than 470,000 customers are without power in Florida due to Hurricane Ian, according to PowerOutage.us.

Lee County, home to Fort Myers and Cape Coral, is still the most affected with more than 166,000 customers reporting power outages, according to the site.

In Collier County, which includes Naples and Marco Island, over 78,000 customers lost power. More than 57,000 customers are without power in Sarasota County, which includes the cities of Sarasota and Siesta Key, according to the site.

Collier County, Florida, Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said they are dealing with some parking garages that have water going over the vehicles' roofs.

“We are not over with the storm at this point,” the sheriff said, noting that the winds may have died down from earlier, “but we still have an afternoon of storm surge.” 

“And from all indications, this will be a storm surge that we’ve never had to deal with before,” he said. 

“This is an extremely dangerous situation and you must pay attention,” the Facebook post said.

Collier County Sheriff said they have received information that “multiple parking garages on the coast are flooded with water OVER vehicle roofs.” 

“We are assisting Marco Island with severe flooding issues as well as Isle of Capri,” the post said. “We cannot respond to your individual requests to check flooding on roadways. This is an evolving emergency and we are still experiencing significant impacts.” 

Collier County is located south of Fort Myers on Florida’s southwest coast. 

Frank Loni, an architect from California who is working in Fort Myers, Florida, said he's "never seen something of this nature before" as Hurricane Ian hammers the area.

He's seeing cars and boats float down the street and "trees nearly bent in half," as well as some people seeking shelter, he told CNN's Ana Cabrera.

The storm surge is about 5 feet high right now, he estimated. The National Hurricane Center said storm surge could reach 18 feet in the area.

He is on the seventh floor of a steel reinforced concrete building and plans to ride out the storm with family members and friends. They have supplies and food to last for a few days.

Loni said he's been visiting this area since his childhood, and he's never seen waves as high as the ones in the Gulf of Mexico.

"We were actually here for the aftermath of Hurricane Charley. We had evacuated during that storm. And what we're seeing here right now appears to be much worse damage than what Charley did to this island," he said.

Watch more here:

The city of Jacksonville, Florida, is readying for the impacts of Hurricane Ian and is urging residents in certain flood zones to consider evacuating. 

Coastal Duval County is under a Hurricane Watch and the city warns that hurricane-force winds are possible within the next 48 hours. 

In an update on the Jacksonville Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security websiteon Wednesday it said “It is recommended that those who live in Zones A or B and experienced flooding during previous storms consider evacuating.” 

Several schools and universities have closed for the duration of the week, as well as city offices and library branches, the statement says. 

On Tuesday, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry issued a State of Emergency for the city which went into effect on Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET.  

The city said right now, bridges remain open, but state jurisdictions will work closely “with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Highway Patrol to monitor wind conditions at area bridges. If winds exceed specified levels, FDOT will work with law enforcement to close affected bridges.” 

Jacksonville is in the northeast corner of Florida.

Naples, Florida, officials issued an emergency citywide curfew on Wednesday. 

City officials asked residents to shelter in place until further notice.

The curfew does not apply to first responders and emergency workers, said the notice. 

Storm chaser Reed Timmer documented on Twitter the storm surge at Pine Island, Florida, as Hurricane Ian's eye wall hammered the area.

His videos show crashing waves, heavy rain, gusty winds and limited visibility.

The eye wall "consists of a ring of tall thunderstorms that produce heavy rains and usually the strongest winds," according to the National Weather Service.

Pine Island is west of Cape Coral and Fort Myers.