Though much of the worst damage was centered on Lee and Charlotte counties, the entire Gulf Coast in southwest Florida was hit hard and is facing a massive cleanup effort ahead.
“I think we had good compliance based on traffic we saw, but there were people who thought their structures were in good shape and decided to hang out.” “There were a lot of people still in town,” he said. Ron DeSantis said fatality figures in the hundreds are not yet confirmed, and crews are just beginning to assess the damage.ĭetermining who is trapped in their homes and doing search and rescue missions is the immediate goal of counties throughout the region, most of which also sustained severe damage from the storm, especially in coastal areas besieged by record storm surge.īrian Gleason, the communications coordinator for neighboring Charlotte County, said there was a backup of roughly 900 calls waiting for emergency workers when the storm started to subside, and they were able to start assessing damage. “They’re going to see things they’ve never seen before.”ĭuring a briefing Thursday morning in the state Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee, Gov. “This will be a life-changing event for the men and women who are responding,” he said. “We have two confirmed right now, and based on what I’m seeing, that number will rise and probably significantly.”Įarly Thursday morning, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that he thinks the death toll in his county could be in the hundreds - though he conceded he didn’t have confirmed numbers. “We won’t know the total number of fatalities until folks can get on the ground and have a better sense of who stayed and who evacuated,” Rodrigues said. President Joe Biden on Thursday said early reports indicate “a substantial loss of life” from the storm, though by late Thursday there was initial reporting of five fatalities in Lee County, six in Charlotte County and one in Volusia County. Pictures and videos from places in and near Fort Myers show those areas nearly completely wiped out, but officials have not yet tallied things like injuries or fatalities. This one hovered over us for hours causing devastation everywhere.” “ Charley rolled through, but it moved quickly. Ray Rodrigues, a Republican who represents the coastal portions of Lee County’s hardest hit areas. “I have been in Lee county for nearly 30 years and been through a number of hurricanes, and this was unique because it just took forever,” said state Sen. But early assessments make clear that Hurricane Ian is the new answer to the question: “What was Lee County’s most devastating hurricane?” The region endured Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Hurricane Charley in 2004, widely regarded as the area’s worst in recent memory. “As of last night, the last communication I had with them is people from the neighborhood were huddled on the second floor just watching the water rise around them,” Roach said. Spencer Roach, a Republican whose district represents a portion of Lee County. I have two pairs of jeans, four shirts and a pair of shoes to my name. Many who stayed behind huddled on the upper floor of his street’s only two-story home, just hoping the rising flood waters would not reach them. But he said he stayed in contact with his neighbors throughout the night as Ian destroyed his Waterway Estates neighborhood. Tuesday night to make the “white knuckle” drive to his brother’s house on Florida’s Atlantic Coast as the weather quickly deteriorated.
Roach made the last-minute decision at 11 p.m. “I have two pairs of jeans, four shirts and a pair of shoes to my name.
“I lost everything I own,” said state Rep.
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