TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Water rescuers in Naples, Florida, waded through waist-deep floodwater Wednesday to rescue a woman trapped in her car as Hurricane Ian battered Florida’s west coast.
Footage shared by Naples Fire-Rescue showed a firefighter breaking the rear passenger window of the woman’s car with an ax before pulling her to safety.
On Wednesday, Collier County officials said half of the streets in Naples were “not passable” due to high water. Officials added that tides may further raise the water level.
Hurricane Ian made landfall just after 3 p.m. Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, with maximum wind speeds of 155 mph, but later weakened as it made its way into central Florida.
Early Thursday morning, the National Weather Service downgraded Ian to a tropical storm after its maximum sustained windspeeds fell to 65 mph.
Roughly 2.6 million Floridians were without power early Thursday, according to PowerOutage.us.
