Hurricane Ian pounds Florida: Reporter blown away by winds, ‘monster’ storm among the worst to hit US (VIDEO)

New Delhi: Hurricane Ian pounded several coastal areas of Florida on Wednesday, created wide scale disruption and plunged the area into complete darkness.

The Category 4 hurricane led to ‘catastrophic’ wind and flooding in residential areas, prompting authorities to put in place an elaborate rescue mission.

Being dubbed as ‘monster storm’, this hurricane was reportedly one of the most powerful storms to have hit the United States in recent years.

The winds were so fierce & gutsy that reporters got blown away by its force and sharks landed up on city streets. A couple of videos allegedly captured by Florida residents have gone viral on social media, highlighting how deadly & ferocious was the hurricane.

WATCH: Weatherman Jim Cantore is nearly blown away while reporting on Hurricane Ian pic.twitter.com/BKV90AFhxG

— BNO News (@BNONews) September 28, 2022

The Category 4 storm hit the Florida coast with winds blowing at a speed of more than 240 km/hour. It was described by the authorities as ‘extremely dangerous’ hurricane.

In many videos that circulated on social media includes Electric transformers being blown up by the storm, flood water entering beach houses, roads getting submerged while vehicles being swept away by the forceful floods.

We were in the eye wall of Cat. 4 #Hurricane #Ian for over 5 hours and the back side was the worst.
I haven’t experienced anything close to this in over 30 years @weatherchannel pic.twitter.com/wfEqcuEBAm

— Mike Seidel (@mikeseidel) September 29, 2022

Hurricane Ian left over 2 million people without power in the state on Wednesday evening. The impact of Hurricane was also witnessed in adjoining states Georgia & South Carolina. At least 20 people are said to be missing after their boat sank in the hurricane.

Transformers blowing all around us,lighting up the sky taking out communications and electricity. I just took this video seconds ago #bradentonfl #hurricaneian @CNNweather @CNNweather @cnnbrk pic.twitter.com/0cDfseLolx

— Derek Van Dam (@VanDamCNN) September 28, 2022

Ahead of the approaching hurricane, the authorities had evacuated more than 2.5 million people residing in coastal areas, however, those who couldn’t move out were advised to stay indoors. Air connectivity remained suspended while the cruise ship departures were also postponed in wake of rampaging storm.

Prior to this, Hurricane Ian wreaked havoc in Cuba and plunged the entire country into darkness. Two people were reported dead in the storm.