Hurricane Ian's maximum sustained winds decrease to 140 mph

Hurricane Ian is now battering the Florida peninsula per the National Hurricane Center's 5 p.m. advisory on Wednesday, Sept. 28, and is expected to move toward north-northeast at near 8 mph.

The center of Ian is expected to move across Central Florida during the evening and through Thursday morning, emerging over the western Atlantic by late Thursday. Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 140 mph with higher gusts, making it a Category 4 storm. Further weakening is expected, though the NHC states Ian could "be near hurricane strength" when it moves over the Florida East Coast tomorrow and as it approaches the northeastern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina coasts late Friday.

A hurricane warning is in effect in Volusia County. Flagler County is under a tropical storm warning. All bridges will close to vehicular traffic when sustained wind speeds reach 39 mph. 

Both Volusia and Flagler County have issued countywide curfews. In Volusia, the curfew will be in effect from 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28, through 7 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, and 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29 through 7 a.m. Friday, Sept. 30. In Flagler County, the curfew will go into effect at 8 p.m. Wednesday, September 28, through 7 a.m. daily until further notice. 

In Flagler, an evacuation order was also issued for residents living in:

• Zone A, the barrier island from Flagler Beach to Marineland
• Low-lying areas in Zone B — the Bulowville neighborhoods east of John Anderson Highway and the Palm Drive and Lambert Avenue neighborhoods.
• Non-elevated homes in the low-lying areas of our Zone F, which is the area surrounding and near Crescent Lake and Dead Lake to include Daytona North are also in the evacuation order.
• All RVs and Mobile Homes countywide