The effects of Hurricane Ian continue to be felt more than 10 days after the tropical storm touched down in Florida, decimating cities and towns on the state's western peninsula.
But, one unexpected effect is the impact the storm has left on electric vehicles, as fire officials are warning of the vehicle type's chances of exploding as a result of flooding from Ian.
Jimmy Patronis, Florida's top financial officer and fire marshal, shared late last week that firefighters had battled several fires started by the waterlogged batteries of electric vehicles.
Patronis tweeted that a large number of the vehicles had been left disabled by the storm. He even went as far as to refer to them as "ticking time bombs."
"As those batteries corrode, fires start," Patronis tweeted. "That's a new challenge that our firefighters haven't faced before. At least on this kind of scale."
The fire marshal continued, saying, "it takes special training and understanding of EVs to ensure these fires are put out quickly and safely."
The videos that Patronis shared on Twitter show the Naples Fire Department battling a fire started by a Tesla EV's battery.
It is unknown how many more electric vehicles were impacted or destroyed by the storm.
Still, fires started by lithium batteries are extremely difficult to extinguish, according to HowItBorke.com founder Robert Swaim shared with Inside EVs earlier this year.
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