Hurricane Ian left much of coastal southwest Florida in darkness early Thursday, bringing "catastrophic" flooding that left officials readying a huge emergency response to a storm of rare intensity.

More than 2 million customers were without electricity in Florida early Thursday, out of a total of more than 11 million, with southwestern areas of the state the hardest hit, according to the PowerOutage.us tracking website.

Dramatic television footage from the coastal city of Naples showed floodwaters surging into beachfront homes, submerging roads and sweeping away vehicles.

Governor Glenn Youngkin of the southern U.S. state of Virginia declared a state of emergency on Wednesday to brace for Hurricane Ian as the storm continues to devastate Florida.