Significant flooding reported in Orlando as Hurricane Ian passes Walt Disney World

Sep 29, 2022 in "Severe Weather impacts to Walt Disney World"

Posted: Thursday September 29, 2022 8:15am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Hurricane Ian dumped over a foot of rain on Orange County overnight as the system passed through Central Florida with wind gusts up to 80mph.

2.6 million are without power in Florida, with 173,000 without power in Orange County, home of Walt Disney World. The National Hurricane center says, "Widespread, life-threatening catastrophic flooding, with major to record river flooding, will continue today across portions of central Florida."

Early reports are that Walt Disney World power remains on, with flooding being the primary concern this morning.

Video from nearby Universal Studios shows the severity of the flooding, with cars submerged up to the window line.

The FL Turnpike is closed in both directions from mile markers 254 through 267 in Orange County due to significant flooding. The northbound and southbound lanes in this area will remain closed until the storm passes and the flooding subsides.

Disney has not yet updated its original plans, closing all Walt Disney World theme parks on September 28 and 29. It remains to be seen if Disney will attempt any partial opening of the parks on Friday. Disney's priority for theme park reopening is likely to be for resort hotel guests. Disney yesterday halted Park Pass reservations for Friday.

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TsWade2Sep 26, 2024

Aw! This is so cute and cuddly! Disney characters spending time to little kiddies watching Disney cartoons!😍Thank goodness it's not Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!:rolleyes:

donsullivanOct 15, 2022

One more step towards recovery. They are finally reopening after the flooding from Ian.

donsullivanOct 14, 2022

A little update that the flooding behind the Magic Kingdom has finally dissipated and Reams Road has now re-opened. The impact of these storms last much longer than the national news coverage. Bay Court is the entrance road for the residential community in the city of Bay Lake to the east of the North Service Area. Floridian Place runs along the west side of the CM parking lot.

JoeCamelOct 13, 2022

Hero's all, they come from all over leaving their families behind to help people they don't know in terrible conditions because they know if the situation was reversed locals would be at their door asking to help.. The cooperation agreements and planning for major disruptions is amazing to see. Thank you from me to them

Vegas Disney FanOct 12, 2022

It’s amazing how quickly we can do things when the will is there, the news was saying it would take months to restore the bridge, they managed it in just over a week. It’s also encouraging to see how good people really are, we usually highlight the bad people so it’s easy to forget the majority truly are good people.

drizgirlOct 12, 2022

Truly heartwarming. I'm tearing up.

drizgirlOct 12, 2022

That's amazing. The cavalry has arrived. 😍

DryerLintFanOct 12, 2022

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0S9XoNHGw9veKtXer5tAEtdpzPevBw1wLk9HZ781Tde5FXsdHwfHguQPMfAtonFXWl&id=1522890978 Not sure if FB videos work here but this was really moving ❤️ One by one they go, restoring power and hope.

DryerLintFanOct 12, 2022

The bridge to Sanibel Island yesterday morning ❤️

SoFloMagicOct 07, 2022

Too busy fighting the largest private employer in the state during special sessions of legislature instead of using those special sessions for insurance reform as previously announced.

John park hopperOct 06, 2022

I posted this before after hurricane Hugo we were inundated with supposed roofers and contractors that did shoddy work and then left the state. Th homeowner was left holding the bag not getting what they paid for.. Beware and know who you are hiring to do the work and never ever pay up front.

LilofanOct 05, 2022

Your example of $20K check from the insurance company is reality. Then enter the crooked money hungry roofers who prey on the desperate homeowners. To get the roof done it won't cost $20K but $30K. Dont like it? Then hope that blue tarp that covers the open gaps of the damaged roof doesn't leak water into the house in future rain storms.

Vegas Disney FanOct 05, 2022

I don’t know the specifics but why aren’t they mirroring the regulations of the other 49 states that aren’t resulting in 80% of lawsuits? The articles I’m reading say Florida accounts for 9% of policies but 79% of lawsuits, and the insurance companies spend billions every year fighting those lawsuits so they lose even if they win. Mirroring the regulations of the other states that aren’t bankrupting insurers seems a good place to start.

DryerLintFanOct 05, 2022

How do you propose they fix it? Right now in PG and FMB and Naples you have hundreds of people with damage to their property. Before Ian hit the area already had labor and material shortages for construction and new builds took years. So there's a huge influx of help coming from arround the country. General contractors, electricians, plumbers, and crooks. You have a ton of desperate home owners who want to get their homes restored, and a ton of strangers in the area who SAY they are legitimate construction workers. There's no way to really check references, no way to ask your neighbor if they're any good, and if they screw up they can't be contacted again because they aren't from the area. So the homeowner gets a check for $20k from insurance for a new roof, let's say, and they get a new roof from a perfectly legitimate looking company that charitably came all the way from Texas to help the area recover. But they do such crappy work that the insurance company, upon inspection, will not reinsure the home unless the roof is replaced again, but now the homeowner has no money. They can't get the money back because that company ghosted them and their contact information now goes nowhere. At least this is the scenario I'm hearing is playing out again and again. We plan on waiting before replacing our pool cage until the company that put it up can replace it. So we'll spend this winter with the alligators and snakes and noseeums 😭😭 but it sure beats being swindled.