Latest: Hurricane Ian tracker: map updates as monster storm swamps Florida
Striking views of Hurricane Ian captured from space show the powerful storm sweeping across the entire US state of Florida, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
The International Space Station flew over the state on Wednesday so weather forecasters could study the intensity and movement of the catastrophic hurricane.
It is one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the US and struck south-west Florida on Wednesday as a Category 4 storm.
However, it reached speeds of 250kph earlier in the day, bordering a Category 5.
“The space station flies over Hurricane Ian providing live views of the storm as it makes landfall near Fort Myers, Florida,” said a tweet from the ISS account.
The National reported that more than 1.6 million people lost power and that there was intense flooding in many years, including in homes.
The hurricane had hit Cuba earlier, causing the entire island to lose electricity.
Nasa’s Earth Observatory captured satellite images of the storm while it was over Cuba.
“Ian continued to strengthen and made landfall in western Cuba on September 27 as a category-3 storm,” Nasa said on September 26.
“Next the storm entered the Gulf of Mexico and headed towards Florida. Forecasters expected that warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico would help the hurricane regain strength before making landfall along the west coast of Florida. They were correct.”
Natural disasters seen from space — in pictures
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1. An enormous plume of ash rises from the Cleveland Volcano on May 23, 2006. The image was captured from the International Space Station by astronaut Jeff Williams. The ash cloud rose as high as 6,000 metres above sea level. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
2. The Raikoke Volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula erupts on June 22, 2019. The last time it exploded was in 1924. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
3. Another image of the Raikoke eruption was captured on the same morning by the Suomi NPP satellite. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
4. One of the deadliest earthquakes struck Haiti in 2010. This GeoEye-1 satellite image shows rubble on the streets of Port-au-Prince on January 13. About 250,000 people were killed in the 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
5. A huge sandstorm rolls across the Sahara Desert on August 1, 2018. Astronaut Ricky Arnold captured this image from the ISS. Photo: Ricky Arnold Twitter -
6. Satellite images show an active volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma on September 26, 2021. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
7. The La Palma volcanic eruption has destroyed hundreds of homes. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
8. Astronauts on the space station captured images of auroras australis, or southern lights, while flying over the Indian Ocean. Light created by the wildfires in Australia can also be seen. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
9. This Terra satellite image shows how green (represented in red in this photo) the island of Leyte was before the deadly super typhoon Haiyan hit Philippines in 2013. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
10. Much of the vegetation and properties on the island was destroyed after the typhoon struck with winds of near 315 kilometres per hour. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
11. A view of super typhoon Haiyan from space taken by Nasa’s Aqua satellite. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
12. The European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellite captured an image of the fires in southern California on December 5, 2017. This photo shows the largest of the blazes in Ventura County, which destroyed more than 65,000 acres. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
13. The highest volcano in the Galapagos Islands erupted for the first time in 33 years in 2015. An image captured by the Terra satellite shows volcanic ash and gases about 15 km high. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
14. An image of the Hurricane Dorian taken by US astronaut Christina Koch in 2019. The natural disaster struck the Bahamas and killed more than 70 people. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
15. Astronaut Christina Koch shared an image of smoke pluming over the Australian continent. The 2019-2020 bushfires destroyed thousands of homes and killed more than 30 people. Photo: Christina Koch Twitter -
16. Satellite images show a dust storm sweeping over the Middle East in 2015. The storm hit Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus and Palestine, causing many cancelled flights and the closure of seaports. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
17. A shield volcano erupts on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula on March 22, 2021. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
18. Astronaut Luca Parmitano shared an image of the wildfires in Australia on January 13, 2020. Photo: European Space Agency -
19. A 2007 view of Japan’s Tohoku region before one of the world’s deadliest earthquake destroyed most of the area in 2011. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
20. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis killed nearly 230,000 people. A satellite image shows the Indonesian town of Lhoknga destroyed by the natural disaster on December 26. All properties were destroyed, except for a white mosque that is visible in the image. Photo: Nasa -
21. The tsunamis, caused by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, also struck Sri Lanka. Photo: Nasa -
22. A satellite image taken after a 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck the Tohoku region in Japan, with tsunami waves destroying most of the coastal area. About five to 10 metre waves flooded into the town. The photo shows flooding, a destroyed seawall and debris. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
23. The Raikoke Volcano eruption seen from space on June 22, 2019. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
24. A Suomi NPP satellite image shows smoke over Russia, as wildfires burned across 11 regions of the country in July 2019. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
25. Satellite image of forest fires in Northern California captured in August 2008. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
26. The Fagradalsfjall volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted on May 9, 2021. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
27. The 2011 tsunami in Japan was so intense, it caused calving of large icebergs from the Sulzberger Ice Shelf on the Antarctic coast, as shown in this image captured by European Space Agency’s Envisat satellite. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
28. Satellite image shows a powerful tornado (brown horizontal line in the middle of image) sweeping across Massachusetts on June 2011. It wreaked havoc for 63 kilometres, killing three people and destroying property. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
29. A satellite image of the Hurricane Katrina over the US in 2005. It struck the state of Louisiana, killing 1,833 people and destroying thousands of homes. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory -
30. The Caldor fire reached Lake Tahoe on the California and Nevada border on September 15, 2021, as seen in this Landsat 8 satellite image. The fire had been burning for 10 weeks. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory
