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In all, eight deaths are connected to the storm in the U.S. and Cuba.Gov. Ron DeSantis says more deaths are expected. Families 'lost everything.'Millions remain without power.
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At least four deaths in Southwest Florida are being blamed on Hurricane Ian, hundreds of people were rescued and survivors are on beginning to comprehend their losses.
In all, eight deaths are blamed on the storm - six in the U.S. and two in Cuba.
Ian came ashore near Ft. Myers on Wednesday and then slowly crawled across the state all day Thursday with heavy rainfall and damaging winds that flooded neighborhoods and streets in Orlando, St. Augustine and Daytona Beach.
Another landfall is expected Friday in South Carolina. See the full forecast .
Here are our updates as the news was unfolding Thursday.
More than power outages are being reported in Florida, according to PowerOutage.us. Each outage can represent several people on a single account or household. The outages stretch across at least 26 counties, with at least 10 of those reporting between 60% and 100% of all customers without electricity.
In preparation for Ian's arrival in South Carolina, the U.S. military from Joint Base Charleston in North Charleston. Such movements are standard procedure when a hurricane is coming.
Michele Reidy, a resident of the town of Iona near where Ian came ashore on Florida's Southwest Coast, doesn't know where her family will live now.
“I’ve been here 29 years I’ve never seen or experienced anything like this," Reidy told Live Storms Media today. "Our families have lost everything ... It's all underwater. You can see where the storm surge came in on the walls because there’s a line. It had to have been at least 6 to 8 feet. It’s very sad. I know that there were people screaming for help.”
See and hear more of her story .
The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office has confirmed two deaths from Hurricane Ian. Further details weren't immediately released. The storm caused heavy damage in the southern part of the county, including on Manasota Key and in Venice.
Four other deaths are being blamed on Ian in the U.S. and two in Cuba.
Orange County Fire Rescue ferried 200 residents of the Bridge and Life Care assisted living facilities to safety after heavy rainfall brought flooding to several areas around Orlando. posted to social media showed first responders helping residents through the water.
Two people are confirmed dead on Sanibel Island, according to a briefing from earlier this evening. Further details weren't immediately available.
Mayor Holly Smith said 12 people were taken off the island today with injuries. The only bridge to the island is breached in five places, cutting it off from the mainland. The only access is by air and boat.
The deaths bring the total number to four connected to Hurricane Ian in the U.S. A 72-year-old man in Deltona, about 25 miles north of Orlando, died when he apparently fell into a canal behind his home during the storm. The death of a 38-year-old man in a traffic crash in Lake County was also tied to the weather, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Two people died when the storm hit Cuba.
In this aerial view, the Sanibel Causeway bridge collapsed in places after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on September 29, 2022 in Sanibel, Florida.
(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“We absolutely expect to have from this hurricane,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a briefing a short time ago.
The governor said 700 rescues had been carried out, and that number was also expected to rise.
The U.S. Coast Guard has ordered all water operations at the Port of Charleston ahead of Hurricane Ian's expected landfall in South Carolina tomorrow.
Rescues are ongoing in parts of Central Florida, including the Orlando area where the Florida National Guard and Orange County Fire Rescue carried 73 residents of a local hotel to safety when the building was surrounded by water. Crews used boats and high water vehicles to , WESH-TV reported. Three buses took the residents to shelters in the area.
Some 33,000 people spent last night in 260 shelters across Florida, according to the . The organization predicts that number could rise as power outages and other issues persist in the coming days. More than 700 Red Cross workers are supporting the aid effort.
The Florida Disaster Fund is the state's official private fund that provides financial assistance to communities hit by disasters like Ian. Click for information on how to donate.
Exhaust from generators can lead to deadly carbon monoxide poisoning. They should within 20 feet of any building or enclosed space, including a garage or carport, and should never be refueled while running. Several people have been killed while using generators in recent years after weather disasters including hurricanes and winter storms. Always follow the safety rules recommended by the manufacturer and the . Also remember to never use a grill inside, or sit inside a running car in an enclosed space.
Hurricane Ian showed the full power of water — specifically storm surge — when a door frame under pressure, sending a deluge of flowing water inside a building in Naples. It was just one of many dramatic scenes from the hardest hit areas.
Ian is a the day after making landfall as one of southwest Florida's most intense hurricanes on record and then weakening as it moved across land. Ian is expected to bring life-threatening flooding, storm surge and strong winds from northeast Florida to the Carolinas.
A hurricane warning has been issued for much of the coastal Carolinas ahead of Friday's final landfall there.
People walk past a building destroyed as Hurricane Ian passed through the area on Sept. 29, 2022 in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
More than 2.6 million power outages are being reported across more than two dozen counties, from Collier on the southwest coast to Nassau in the far northeast corner of the state. The highest outages by number are in Lee County with about 414,000, according to . The highest by percentage is in Hardee, where 99.5% of the county's 9,545 power customers are reported to be without electricity.
Tampa and Orlando international airports will remain closed for one more day. will resume operations at 10 a.m. Roadways leading to the airport were flooded this morning and damage assessments are ongoing. A time hasn't yet been set for it to reopen.
In Charleston, in South Carolina's Lowcountry where Ian is expected to strike on Friday, Mayor John Tecklenburg wants the city to shut down before the storm arrives.
“There will be water tomorrow in this city,” Tecklenburg said.
Forecasters warn that Charleston and other parts of the coast could see 4 to 7 feet of storm surge.
“Take this storm seriously,” Tecklenburg said, according to the Associated Press. “Tomorrow, stay home and stay out of harm’s way.”
The city saw flooding already on Thursday, and , according to the Post and Courier.
More than 130 flights in and out of Charleston International Airport have been canceled ahead of Ian’s expected landfall Friday, according to flight tracker .
The airport runways, which are owned and shared by Charleston Air Force Base, will be , the Post and Courier reports.
So far, 71 departing flights and 64 arriving flights at Charleston International have been canceled on Friday.
Damaged ships and debris is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Florida's Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno told CNN, “The Fort Myers Beach area, buildings, major, major homes and buildings completely washed away with vehicles in the water, vehicles in the bay, boats are upside down.”
The sheriff also posted a video to Twitter of the helicopter tour he took over Lee County on Thursday.
Speaking at FEMA headquarters in Washington Thursday, President Joe Biden said Ian "could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida's history."
"It is still moving across the state today," Biden said. "This could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida's history. The numbers are still unclear but we are hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life."
It's possible that the president misspoke. Previous hurricanes that struck the state have killed dozens and even hundreds of people. The Lake Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928 killed at least 2,500 people, according to the National Hurricane Center, and the toll may have been as high 3,000.
So far, only one death in Florida, a 72-year-old man in Deltona, has been attributed to the storm.
Biden also said the federal government will cover 100% of the cost Florida incurs for its emergency response efforts.
He said he approved Gov. Ron DeSantis' request for expedited major disaster declaration.
"First thing this morning, I talked to Gov. Desantis and again offered the fullest federal support. Earlier this week I approved his request for the pre-landfall emergency declaration to provide direct federal assistance to the state, for emergency protective measures to save lives, including search and rescue and shelter and food. Earlier this morning I approved the governor's most recent request for expedited major disaster declaration," Biden said.
He also said the federal government will cover the majority of the cost of rebuilding public buildings, such as schools and fire stations.
Sand is covering parts of A1A as Tropical Storm Ian drives water out of the Atlantic Ocean and over the highway, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports.
Flagler Beach Police Chief Matt Doughney texted that the Florida Department of Transportation plans to send a team to assess the situation. He said police would continue to monitor the situation.
Doughney urged people to stay off the highway.
Flagler County has urged residents of the entire Woodlands neighborhood – also known as Hurricane Evacuation Zone C – to leave immediately.
“We urge residents within the Woodlands neighborhood to leave the area due to updated expectations of significant flooding of your neighborhood streets, with the potential to impact your home,” Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord said in a . “Additionally, as the flooding progresses it is possible that emergency vehicles will no longer have access to your neighborhood.”
A shelter was opened at Rymfire Elementary, at 1425 Rymfire Drive, Palm Coast.
More than 1,200 patients are being evacuated from hospitals across the Fort Myers region.
“We have one large health system in Southwest Florida that is without water in all of their facilities. And so they are fast approaching a point where they will not be able to safely take care of their patients. So that is an urgent focus to get those patients transferred,” Mary Mayhew, the president of the Florida Hospital Association, told the Associated Press.
Naples Mayor Teresa Heitmann told CNN some of the Fort Myers .
“I will tell you though, our prayers are for those up north. Fort Myers — they’re without water. At least our water and sewer is working,” she said. “They’re having to send patients from Fort Myers to Naples Community Hospital.”
The eastbound lanes of the Bridge of Lions in downtown St. Augustine were closed Thursday as the city on Florida's east coast began to feel the effects of Tropical Storm Ian.
Westbound lanes off Anastasia Island were still open, according to .
Water from the Matanzas River, which runs under the bridge, was washing over the seawall and rushing through downtown.
Earlier, a sailboat that broke free from its moorings began banging against the seawall.
The city of Kissimmee shared drone video showing floodwaters from Ian surrounding HCA Florida Osceola Hospital.
"We are in the midst of one of the most catastrophic flooding events in the history of the city of Kissimmee," City Manager Mike Steigerwald said in a .
"I'm not telling you that to alarm you, but it's just the facts. The most important message, that I think is important for everybody to understand, is that it is a dangerous situation out there. There are sections of the city that are impassable; that are underwater."
Officials in Orange County, which is home to Orlando, are asking residents to shelter in place until the flooding from Tropical Storm Ian has declined.
"Wherever they are, ," Chief Lauraleigh Avery, emergency manager for Orange County Government's Office of Emergency Management, told FOX 35. "We could have a really rapid amount of rain, a lot of rain coming really fast. We were already expecting 12 to 20 inches of rain. Now we could go up to 30 in some areas."
Orlando set a 24-hour rainfall record when 12.49 inches had fallen through 8 a.m. Thursday.
Members of Orange County Fire Rescue evacuated an Orlando nursing home Thursday morning as floodwaters rose.
The department shared video of first responders pushing Avante residents on stretchers through the high water.
Drone footage above Port Charlotte shows just how bad damage from Hurricane Ian’s Category 4 landfall near there was. See .
Homes are surrounded by water on Thursday, September 29, 2022, after Hurricane Ian sent storm surge into Port Charlotte, Florida.
(LSM/Brian Emfinger)
Historic flooding in Seminole County has led to several rescues this morning.
The Florida National Guard with 10 high-water trucks is helping with rescues.
Seminole County Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Blake told the Orlando Sentinel stranded in cars and homes in Winter Springs, Geneva and the Little Wekiva River area.
Alan Harris, director of Seminole’s office of emergency management, told the Sentinel, “Along the Little Wekiva, we are at an historic point. It’s never been like this before in recorded history.”
The Nassau County Sheriff's Office rescued two people from a sailboat in Fernadina Harbor about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.
WPLG has posted video from a helicopter flying over Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach.
Lee and Charlotte counties are basically "off the grid," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday morning.
Of the 2.6 million power outages in the state, more than 1.5 million are in seven Southwest Florida counties.
"Charlotte and Lee reconnects are likely going to have to be rebuilding of that infrastructure...," DeSantis said. "That's going to be more than just connecting a power line back to a pole."
Line crews are on their way there now to begin that work, he said.
He also said 100 portable cell towers were on the way to help with communications after Ian damaged many existing towers.
DeSantis said he is asking President Joe Biden to expand the federal disaster declaration to more counties.
At least 28 helicopters from the Coast Guard and Florida National Guard are conducting rescues in Southwest Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news briefing Thursday morning.
He said the teams started on barrier islands and they're also looking at locations that had inland flooding. He said more aircraft would be arriving soon.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state is working with hospitals that have been on generator power for hours now.
He said patients at two hospitals were being evacuated to locations farther north.
Earlier today, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said water supply to nine Lee County hospitals had been disrupted.
“We know that there is nine hospitals in Lee County that the state is looking at right now to determine whether or not we’re going to be able to get the water restored to them or whether or not they are going to have to be evacuated,” she said.
Hurricane Ian destroyed the Naples Pier, a top tourist destination, Collier County Commissioner Penny Taylor told the Associated Press.
The storm sent waves of at least 20 feet over the historic structure, said Penny Taylor, a commission in Collier County.
“Right now, there is no pier,” Taylor said, adding that even the piers had been ripped out.
Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson there's a lot of damage in his city.
"We have several businesses that have been damaged by the rising water, the flood. It going to be a long recovery for those businesses, I can tell you. I'm looking at the post office and the water line looks to be about four feet high on the outside of the building."
He asked residents to remain inside and let crews get roads cleared and power and water restored.
Coast Guard teams have been rescuing people trapped on their roofs by Hurricane Ian, Rear Adm. Brendan McPherson, a U.S. Coast Guard commander, .
“We didn’t even wait for the passage of the storm last night, we had helicopters in the air. We rescued 13 people along the coast between Fort Myers and St. Petersburg,” he said.
“We currently have an aircraft in the air with the Florida National Guard actively pulling people off of roofs in Fort Myers," he added.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell that Lee County, home to Fort Myers, was the area hit hardest by Hurricane Ian. And she expects the damage is going to be catastrophic.
“The area that has been hit the hardest — certainly from what we’re hearing right now — is Lee County,” Criswell said. “We know that there was significant storm surge there. We know that their water system has been impacted, and we’re focused right now on getting some search and rescue teams, who have been out since 4:00 this morning, to get into that area and identify who might need assistance, who might need to get rescued.”
She said she couldn't quantify the amount of damage, “But I can tell you that it is going to be catastrophic. The amount of impact to these communities is going to be significant.”
Later Criswell the water supply to nine Lee County hospitals had been disrupted.
“We know that there is nine hospitals in Lee County that the state is looking at right now to determine whether or not we’re going to be able to get the water restored to them or whether or not they are going to have to be evacuated,” she said.
Earlier on ABC's "Good Morning America," Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said but he didn't know the exact number.
"We still cannot access many of the people that are in need," Marceno said. "It's a real, real rough road ahead."
A man who went out to drain his pool during Hurricane Ian drowned in a canal behind his house, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said in a .
The 72-year-old man went outside his home in Deltona, about 25 miles north of Orlando, about 1 a.m. Thursday. His wife called 911 when he didn't come back inside.
"While searching for him, deputies found his flashlight, then spotted the victim unresponsive in a canal behind the home," the news release said.
He appeared to have been using a hose to drain the pool down a hill and into a 30-foot-wide canal, where a steep decline into the water was extremely soft and slippery because of the heavy rain.
Deputies performed CPR, but the victim, whose name has not been released, could not be revived.
Most of the roads on Marco Island, off the coast south of Naples, are no longer flooded, the Police Department said in a .
Teams are working to removes vehicles that stalled in the middle of roads during the flooding, the Public Works department worked through the night removing trees from roadways.
Utilities are still out and cell phone coverage is intermittent, the post said.
Nearly power outages are being reported in Florida, from the Southwest coast where Ian came ashore, up and across the state to areas around Daytona Beach on the state's Atlantic Coast, according to PowerOutage.us. Each outage can represent several people in a household or building, or a business or shared utility account.
A video shows how the heavy rain from Hurricane Ian caused flooding outside the Disney Swan and Dolphin Resort. The water appears to be several inches deep.
President Joe Biden has signed a for Florida.
The declaration makes federal funding available to affected individuals in Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Pinellas and Sarasota counties.
Jacksonville International Airport has announced it and all flights are canceled. Flights remain canceled at Tampa International and Orlando International. Nearly have been canceled today, according to flight tracker flightaware.com.
In Charlotte County, north of Fort Myers, officials say they have not been able to get out and assess the damage left by Hurricane Ian.
"The inundation of water, extreme wind conditions and debris in the roadways and waterways have made it difficult to do that safely," a said.
The post also said many cell phone towers were down, and restoring communications is a priority. It also encouraged people who had evacuated to remain where they are.
"The roads are extremely dangerous with many unknown hazards," the post said.
The Venice Theater, a community theater in Venice, Florida, has been severely damaged by Ian. The city showing a large part of the building ripped away.
The Venice Theater, a community theater in Venice, Florida, was damaged by Hurricane Ian on Wednesday, September 28, 2022.
(Twitter/@CityofVeniceFL)
The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said deputies have been responding to calls for help, but there is a backlog.
"Patrol deputies resumed operation a few hours ago and are responding to the highest priority calls that are still in queue. Collectively, there are more than 500 calls for service related to law and fire services that we need to tackle," the office said in a post.
Chief Pete DiMaria of the Naples Fire-Rescue department says it was "a little unnerving" to find 4 to 7 feet of storm surge washing into their fire station on Wednesday.
“It was ,” DiMaria told CNN. “We felt like we had situated ourselves with a good plan, but the water rose up so quickly on us, we kind of retreated back into the station. (…) But it was unnerving because we couldn't get out of the station and we had some rescues to make and it just became a difficult situation for our personnel to get out there and do their jobs.”
The water eventually retreated and rescues resumed.
DiMaria says communication is difficult because Ian knocked down many cell phone towers.
Four to 7 feet of storm surge from Hurricane Ian, flooded a fire station in Naples, Florida, on Wednesday, September 28, 2022.
(Facebook/Naples Fire-Rescue Department)
The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office says it appears most of the county's damage is south of Venice Boulevard.
"There are still several road obstructions including fallen trees and debris, standing water, and downed power lines," according to a Twitter post.
In downtown Fort Myers, shin-high water filled streets near the federal courthouse early Thursday, and store-front windows were , according to the Tampa Bay Times.
It's impossible to get to Sanibel island by car this morning.
McGregor Boulevard is "is folded up like an accordion, " the Tampa Bay Times reports.
A little farther along, a section of the Sanibel Causeway, where the bridge rises from the mainland to the island, has collapsed.
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