FORT MYERS, Fla. — Authorities in Florida confirmed several more deaths late Saturday that raised the state’s death toll from Hurricane Ian to at least 47...
The total death toll from the storm, one of the strongest hurricanes by wind speed to ever hit the U.S., grew to 54 to include deaths in Florida, Cuba and North Carolina.
Ian slammed into the southwest Gulf Coast of Florida as a major Category 4 hurricane earlier in the week before crossing the peninsula out over the Atlantic Ocean and then striking the U.S. Southeast seacoast as a Category 1 hurricane. Four other storm-related deaths were reported in North Carolina and three in Cuba.
As of Saturday, more than 1,000 people had been rescued from flooded areas along Florida’s southwestern coast alone, Daniel Hokanson, a four-star general and head of the National Guard, told The Associated Press while airborne to Florida. River flooding posed a major challenge at times to rescue and supply delivery efforts. The Myakka River washed over a stretch of Interstate 75, forcing a traffic-snarling highway closure for a while Saturday. That’s a key corridor linking Tampa to the north with the hard-hit southwest Florida region that straddles Port Charlotte and Fort Myers. Later Saturday, state officials said, water levels had receded enough that I-75 could be fully reopened.
“We watched it hit the pier and saw the pier disappear,” said Wilder, whose house 30 feet above the ocean stayed dry inside. “We watched it crumble and and watched it float by with an American flag.” In North Carolina, the storm claimed four lives and mostly downed trees and power lines, leaving over 280,000 people statewide without power Saturday morning, officials said.
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