Hurricane Ian: relief in Tampa amid sorrow for Floridians not spared by storm

One of the fiercest storms to hit the US swept ashore, making landfall 125 miles south of Tampa Bay, and hit Fort Myers

As Carolinians braced for their dose of deadly Hurricane Ian on Friday, a massive swath of Florida lay underwater or covered in dangerous debris while one major population area allowed itself a small sigh of relief.

The 3 million-plus residents of the Tampa Bay area in south-west Florida, dominated by the cities of Tampa, St Petersburg and Clearwater, had battened themselves down expecting the first direct hit from a hurricane there in a century.