Hurricane Ian updates: Florida sheriff says 'fatalities are in the hundreds' after monster storm After Hurricane Ian swept through Florida on Thursday, the storm left millions without power, and officials are predicting there may be hundreds of fatalities. “Fatalities are in the hundreds,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno told Good Morning America on Thursday. Ian was moving northeast across Florida at about 8 mph with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph at 5 a.m. Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center. However, the agency warned that Ian could pick back up and reach hurricane strength as it reaches Florida’s east coast on Saturday, posing risks to Georgia and the Carolinas. The NHC downgraded Hurricane Ian to tropical storm status early Thursday morning after the storm began to weaken gradually overnight Wednesday as it moved across central Florida.
People trapped, 2.5M without power as Ian drenches Florida T. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Ian carved a path of destruction across Florida, trapping people in flooded homes, cutting off the only bridge to a barrier island, damaging a hospital from above and below and knocking out power to 2.5 million people as it dumped rain over a huge area on Thursday. One of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the United States threatened catastrophic flooding around the state. Ian’s tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 415 miles (665 km), drenching much of Florida and the southeastern Atlantic coast. Authorities confirmed at least one storm death in Florida — a 72-year-old man in Deltona who fell into a canal while using a hose to drain his pool in the heavy rain, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said. Another Florida sheriff said he believes the death toll would be “in the hundreds.” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that roads and bridges remained impassable, stranding thousands of people calling 911 to be rescued in the county that includes Fort Myers.
The Sanibel causeway is breached and wiped out in multiple areas. The only road on/off the island. The island appears to have taken a massive direct hit, just terrible.
Hope everyone gets saved. What these overview shots bring to light for me. Too many homes jammed together built too close to the shore Plus, how many boats do we need. Marinas are stuffed with thousands of boats. West coast has a population problem compounded by weather events when and if.
I rode out the storm in downtown Fort Myers. The flooding was incredible. There were boats and cars floating down the street. Watched parts of the roof on the Lee County Administration Building come off. It was terrible downtown. Having said that it was nothing like the barrier islands. Parts of Fort Myers Beach were leveled. My old beach cottage on the gulf is simply gone. Most of them are. The Times Square area is leveled. Sanibel is terrible and we really still don’t know exactly how bad because of no access. A friend of mine out there just got rescued out of his attic. The water drove him and his wife up there. Still haven’t heard the whole story, but I’m sure it was harrowing. These things are so unpredictable. If you are told to evacuate, please go. Worst thing that could happen is you didn’t need to, which is good news. The worst thing that can happen if you don’t is far worse. I’m really hoping we don’t get a lot of bad news over the next few days. Hoping everyone is safe and Go Gators.
I just got word that, thank God, our friend survived. She went upstairs to a friend of hers and though the roof and windows leaked, they were unharmed. She’s now back in her own condo on the ground floor which, amazingly, is bone dry. I don’t see how it can be dry because she’s right on the water. She is without electricity and running water, but has a generator so her refrigerator is working.
No water. No power. Using water from lake to flush toilets. $2 a flush using bottled water was getting prohibitive.
A lot of people were thrown off guard thinking it was going to make landfall in Tampa. My family in Ft Myers came up to stay with us in 2017 for Irma and went back so some damage, but it wasn't as bad as they thought. This time they stayed and it was bad. Some lost their home, others had a lot of damage. May not have power for a month or more
Weather is amazing. I wanted to go for a run, but unfortunately don’t have running water. Didn’t want to start to stink so early with no showers.
I'm in Riverview and lost power Wednesday night at 8pm. Still don't have it back! At work this morning with power and internet access, so I have a few days of catchup to do on GC!!! Thank god the weather has been wonderful after the storm! I couldn't imagine trying to sleep without AC otherwise!
The wind we received here was crazy and higher than I expected. My power (& Internet) went out early morning Thursday, as I predicted it would. Just got it back early today. Generator was very reliable - I think it ran about 15 hours straight on Thursday - then I shut it down for about 2 hours. Ran it again last night until I went to bed around 11PM. I got a little damage to the house and lost a few specimen palms plus my Screw Pine . No flooding. Lot of stuff to clean up. Good luck to all!
