Officials said Saturday that thousands of people have been rescued in the days since Hurricane Ian ripped a wide path of destruction across Florida, and that the death toll rose to nearly three dozen in the state. Meanwhile, more than a million customers remained without power on Saturday, Oct. 1.
The southwest coast of Florida took the brunt of the storm surge when Ian made landfall on Wednesday, Sept. 28. Sanibel and Captiva islands were cut off from the rest of the state when parts of the road connecting the two were destroyed by Ian.
In Lee County, which includes the hard-hit Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach, sheriff Carmine Marceno said on Saturday that there were at least 35 fatalities and that his office would wait until all family members could be notified to release more information on the casualties. Rescue efforts were still ongoing throughout the county, he said.
As recovery efforts continued, many challenges remained for the communities impacted by the hurricane. Some rivers that flooded from the rainfall were still impacting areas of the state. Interstate 75 in Sarasota County remained closed in both directions for a 12-mile stretch due to flooding at the Muakka River.
FEMA officials on Saturday told reporters that approximately 4,000 people had been rescued in the days since Ian made landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast. According to the Lee County sheriff, hundreds had been rescued on Saturday alone.
Including at least three fatalities in Cuba caused by Ian, according to The Associated Press, the death toll stood at more than three dozen. Most of the deaths from the hurricane were a result of drowning, but some have been blamed on harsh consequences in the aftermath of the storm, such as an elderly couple who died after power to their oxygen machines shut off.
The scenes of devastation were widespread across the Peninsula, with several communities completely destroyed from the wrath of Hurricane Ian. Trees were completely ripped apart and several collapsed in Pine Island, Florida, not far from where Ian made its first of three United States landfalls.
Cars and buildings were destroyed. Video from extreme meteorologist Reed Timmer showed the damage spread over a wide area of the island, which impeded roads and accumulated around homes. In some cases, damaged boats were stacked on top of the debris that were inland. Residents who were still in Pine Island on Saturday indicated that fleeing may be the only option. "The resources are just not available on Matlacha/Pine Island to make life sustainable for living your daily life on the island for some time," read a social media post by Kevin Russell, who operates a local Facebook group page. He added that the situation on the island "is more dire than we thought."
Washed-out and damaged roads were hardly limited to Pine Island. Drone video from Brandon Clement showed a road completely collapsed and impassable in Acadia, about an hour north of Fort Myers, on Saturday morning. Behind the impassable portion, chunks of the road were taken out like swiss cheese along the roadway. Even three days after landfall, portions of Acadia were still underwater and homes flooded.
At a press briefing on Saturday, Florida Gov. Ron Desantis said the worst of the flooding remained inland. "I was touring central Florida," DeSantis told reporters. "There was more standing water in central Florida than there was in southwest Florida. Just had a lot of water from some of the rivers and inlets overflowing. It's creating a lot of problems really all across the state."
Good, you made it....
