Hurricane Ian landed a direct hit on the Gulf Coast of Florida Wednesday, producing a storm surge that unfortunately lived up to expectations.
The fire department in Naples, Florida, shared a video on Facebook of firefighters moving a truck and equipment in waist-deep water that overwhelmed a fire station.
“The truck is smoking, and we don’t want the station to burn down,” the chief says as crews pushed the vehicle out of the bay.
“This is the storm surge we talked about, but weren’t sure about,” a spokesperson who narrates the video says.
Another video shared by Naples Fire-Rescue showed firefighters helping a woman trudge through water up to her chest.
The National Hurricane Center predicted Ian, now a Category 4 storm with winds of up to 155 mph, would deliver a storm surge in Tampa Bay and surrounding waters of between 5 and 10 feet above normal tide levels and rainfall of between 10 and 15 inches.