Death toll nears 100 as search for survivors continues after Hurricane Ian slams Florida
The Florida death toll in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian rose on Monday to 94 as search-and-rescue and recovery efforts continued five days after the devastating storm made landfall.
Another four people have died in North Carolina. The storm also killed at least three people after it made landfall in Cuba.
Thousands of Sunshine State households are grappling with a lack of basic amenities like cellphone service, electricity and WiFi, and extensive damage to infrastructure like roadways and bridges have made it challenging for them to get help.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office said more than 1,600 people in Florida had been rescued. But more than 550,000 homes and businesses in the state are still without power, down from a peak of more than 2.5 million customers last week.
“Our Division of Emergency Management is continuing to bring large quantities of water, food and other substances in the area to help everybody get by,” DeSantis said at a Monday press conference.
He added that Lee County, which saw 54 deaths alone, already had several distribution centers up and running to provide food and water to survivors.
County officials have defended their decision to not issue an evacuation order until less than a day before Ian first made landfall.
Lee County manager Roger Desjarlais responded that it’s illegal to force people to evacuate.
Beachgoers walk past a collapsed pool deck Monday, Oct. 3, 2022, in Daytona Beach Shores, Fla., as hotel and condo seawalls and decks along the Volusia County coastline were gutted by Hurricane Ian last week. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP) (Joe Burbank/)
“But what we tell people is, it is really dangerous to be in Fort Myers Beach right now,” Desjarlais said Monday. “There is no power. There is no water.”
The bridge leading from Fort Myers to Pine Island, Fla., is heavily damaged in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (Gerald Herbert/)
The department of health has issued more than 100 boil-water advisories as clean drinking water is unavailable.
In the city of Naples, the recovery effort is expected to last a while.
Seminole County has several areas with waist-high water with more than 100 homes flooded.
A boy runs past a collapsed pool deck Monday, Oct. 3, 2022, in Daytona Beach Shores, Fla., as hotel and condo seawalls and decks along the Volusia County coastline were gutted by Hurricane Ian last week. (Joe Burbank/)
On Sanibel Island, off Cape Coral and Fort Myers, residents who did not evacuate have been stranded for several days after the Sanibel Causeway, which connects the island to the mainland, was mostly destroyed.
“It was hit very hard,” Coast Guard Commander Rear Admiral Brendan McPherson said. “It does not have water. It doesn’t have the basic infrastructure.”
Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said people whose power infrastructure does not need to be rebuilt should have service restored by the weekend.
“That is a goal that they are trying to hit to have all customers that can receive power by Sunday of this week,” Guthrie said during a briefing in Tallahassee.
President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are scheduled to visit Florida on Wednesday.
This is an aerial view of a damaged trailer park after Hurricane Ian passed by the area Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, in Fort Myers, Fla. (Steve Helber/)
Across the state, residents in flood-ravaged homes got rid of damaged furniture and threw out soaked flooring, trying to prevent mold from growing.
“Everything that got water is starting to mold. We’re cutting all the drywall out, 2 feet up, trying to get things dried out to save the house and to protect it from more damage,” resident Jeff Rioux told the AP.
The storm churned north Monday, bringing flood warnings from North Carolina’s Outer Banks to Long Island. The National Weather Service said about 30 million people in the region are under flood alert until Tuesday.
The cities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach both declared states of emergency as tides rose in Chesapeake Bay.
The U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s most-advanced aircraft carrier, was scheduled to be deployed from Norfolk on Monday, but that was postponed.
With News Wire Services
