The National Hurricane Center warned in its 2 p.m. ET advisory that the center of Hurricane Ian is about to make landfall along the Atlantic Coast.

“Life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds and flash flooding lashing the Carolinas,” the advisory said.

With maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, Ian is about 55 miles off Charleston, South Carolina, and moving toward land at about 15 mph.

“Ian is forecast to turn toward the north-northwest by tonight and will move inland across eastern South Carolina and central North Carolina tonight and Saturday,” the hurricane center said.

Hurricane Ian’s winds were so fierce that boats in Fort Myers were “tossed up on to land” and “tossed around like they were toys,” the city’s mayor said Friday in an interview with MSNBC.

Kevin Anderson previously told NBC’s “TODAY” show that Ian was the worst storm he had ever witnessed.

Taxpayers affected by Ian will now have until Feb. 15 “to file most tax returns,” the IRS announced in a press release Thursday.

The IRS has pushed all deadlines after Sept. 23 to Feb. 15, 2023, for taxpayers who "reside or have a business anywhere in the state of Florida," whom it will automatically identify. The federal tax agency will also extend deadlines for relief workers in disaster areas and any visitors to the areas who were injured as a result of Ian, who must request the relief.

The new deadline will apply to quarterly estimated tax payments, normally due Jan. 17, and to quarterly payroll and excise tax returns, which are normally due Oct. 31 and Jan. 31.

Affected taxpayers can also claim disaster-related casualty losses for their 2022 or 2021 federal income tax return and may also deduct personal property losses that are not covered by insurance or other reimbursements.

It was 5 a.m. ET, just hours before Hurricane Ian would make landfall in Florida, when TJ McCormack, 44, prepared to head south from Venice Beach — not to escape the coming storm, but to meet it head-on.

He lives in Denver and had traveled to Florida to chase the storm, though he’s not a meteorologist or a journalist. He’s a roofer by trade but a burgeoning influencer, as well, one who has amassed more than 280,000 followers on TikTok, where he posts videos of whatever he thinks people might want to see. 

And what he knows people want to see — and what TikTok’s algorithm seems to favor — is livestreams. He was one of dozens of people who livestreamed Ian as it hit Florida.

“Whenever people watch me, they expect they’re going to see up-to-the-minute, real, live, authentic things being shown to them,” McCormack said in a phone interview Thursday. “I love the thrill of the chase, the adrenaline rush, and being able to document things as they’re occurring.”

Read the full story here.

President Joe Biden spoke on the phone Friday morning with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell as part of his administration's effort to “prioritize lifesaving actions and ensure delivery of essential services and support to survivors,” the White House said in a statement.

The White House said that Biden was taking steps to help communities impacted by the storm, such as approving additional Florida counties for assistance and issuing a “pre-landfall emergency declaration” for South Carolina.

The White House said that over a dozen Coast Guard aircraft have been flying nonstop since Thursday, rescuing over 80 people along the southwest Florida coast. The president also deployed over 400 members of the Army Corps of Engineers to the region to evaluate the safety of bridges, roads and other infrastructure. 

Lee Health is offering free telehealth services to residents affected by Hurricane Ian.

The public health system's services are accessible on any smartphone, computer or tablet with a camera. Available 24/7, Lee Health TeleHealth can be accessed here.

But the health care provider urges people to still call 911 if they are having an urgent medical problem. The emergency rooms at Lee Health's hospitals remain open.

Rescue personnel have gone to more than 3,000 homes in the areas hit the hardest to check on residents, Florida Gov, Ron DeSantis said at a Friday morning news briefing.

Right now, the teams have focused on areas along the coast but will begin to move inland.

The governor noted that there are still significant power outages in Hardee County, which is about 99 percent in the dark. Lee and Charlotte counties are 85 percent without power and DeSoto is 80 percent without power, he said.

Six health care facilities had to be evacuated in southwest Florida due to "problems with water or problems with power for an extended period of time," DeSantis said.

Crews have spent the past few days inspecting and reopening 800 bridges across the state, according to the governor. Bridges in Pine Island and Sanibel will require “rebuild efforts,” he told reporters.

Families in Florida are picking up the pieces after Hurricane Ian ravaged the state this week, with one family saying they lost “everything” after their home’s foundations crumbled in the staggering storm surge. 

Ian made landfall Wednesday afternoon as a Category 4 storm over the west coast of Florida, leaving in its wake more than a dozen people dead, destroyed homes, flooded streets and millions without power. 

The Gutierrez family of Fort Myers Beach, Florida, took video footage of the storm’s damage in their home showing their belongings, tables and furniture strewn about in high, muddy flood waters. 

Maribel Gutierrez, the mother of the family, told MSNBC she and her husband and her four children held hands in a chain as they escaped their home in the midst of the ferocious hurricane in search of higher ground. 

Read the full story here.

At least 21 people have died in Florida, an official said Friday, but they are still trying to confirm whether all those deaths are related to Hurricane Ian.

One confirmed death was reported in Polk County, Florida’s Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said at a Friday morning news briefing.

The remaining 20 deaths are unconfirmed, he said. They include 12 in Charlotte and eight in Collier. The medical examiner will determine if those deaths are related to the storm, which slammed into the state’s coast Wednesday afternoon.

Guthrie said that during a hasty search in Lee County, officials found what they believe to be human remains in a home that was completely underwater.

“We do not know how many were in the house. We had a Coast Guard rescue swimmer swim down into it and he could identify that it appeared to be human remains. We don’t know how many. We don’t know what the situation is,” he said. “We got a couple of other situations where we had that particular type situation.”

The director said they are waiting for the water to recede and for special equipment to be brought in before the home is thoroughly searched.