Ian regains hurricane strength and heads toward South Carolina

Ian, turning about 40 miles off the northern section of Florida’s Atlantic coast, became a hurricane again Thursday afternoon, about 12 hours after losing its hurricane status.

Hurricane warnings were issued along the entire South Carolina coast beginning Thursday morning and went into effect for a section of the North Carolina coast later.

By late afternoon, the storm’s wind speed increased to 75 mph, making it a Category I hurricane, moving north-northeast at 10 mph about 240 miles south of Charleston.

Ian lost wind strength and was downgraded to a tropical storm early Thursday after becoming deadly as it swept through Florida, leaving a path of destruction and causing severe flooding.

Life-threatening impacts will continue to spread north through the southeast as Ian charges over the Atlantic and then returns to land. Hazards will include torrential rain, dangerous storm surge, damaging winds and severe weather as Ian takes that hike.

Prior to Ian’s arrival and as the storm hit Florida, states of emergency were declared in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. Tropical storm warnings have been issued for coastal areas from Georgia to North Carolina.

Ian will continue to pummel the central and northern parts of the Florida panhandle through Thursday night, when it begins its path toward the South Carolina coast.