Floridians are now grappling with the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Ian. Those who live in Florida’s Southwest coastline are describing their community as a “war zone”. President Joe Biden and the First Lady will travel to the state on Wednesday after first visiting Puerto Rico on Monday.
Hurricane Ian’s death toll climbed to a staggering 87 fatalities on Sunday with 83 of those being in Florida and the other four in North Carolina. Ian hit Florida on Wednesday and Thursday before it was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on Saturday, as it moved to south central Virginia.
Ian was a Category 4 storm, which according to the National Hurricane Center is a major storm that brings with it 130 to 156 mile per hour wind speed, and can cause catastrophic damage.
This week Biden approved a Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) disaster declaration which will provide individual assistance for residents in 13 counties.
The search and rescue efforts across those areas affected by the storm are being met with a federal response that is likely to be one of the largest ever, with FEMA chief Deanne Criswall calling it the “largest amount of search-and-rescue assets” that has ever been put in place.
That rescue effort includes 1.6 million liters of water, an additional 6.6 million in the coming days, 5.5 million meals, and more than 400 ambulances and four aircrafts to evacuate individuals from nursing homes and other residential care facilities.
Search and rescue for those who remain missing in Florida will be conducted by FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue teams, the Coast Guard, the Interior Department and Defense Department. Thus far at least 1,100 people have been rescued following Hurricane Ian, which brought with it extreme flooding, formidable wind speeds, and destroyed homes and infrastructures.
And officials warn that the full extent of Hurricane Ian’s damage, including fatalities, may not yet be fully known.
“I’m looking for my 96-year-old grandmother, Julia Rodriguez. She was living in Sunshine Mobile Village. Last we heard she was evacuating on Wednesday but haven’t heard from her. She doesn’t have a cell phone. Any advice? We are very worried and live in NY,” wrote a woman on the Fort Myers Beach Facebook page.
At least 656,935 customers in Florida were still without power at around 11:00 p.m. on Sunday night following Hurricane Ian’s devastating effects according to PowerOutage. Counties experiencing the highest number of power outages included those in Southwest Florida: Hardee, Lee, Charlotte, DeSoto, Sarasota, Manatee, Collier, Hendry and Volusia in the east-central area of Florida.
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