Death toll escalates in Florida to 47 from Hurricane Ian
Authorities in Florida confirmed several more deaths that raised the states death toll from Hurricane Ian to at least 47 fatalities, hiking the global toll to at least 54 dead. A list of the dead compiled by medical examiners in the state and made public reported numerous drowning deaths, victims found submerged or floating in storm waters. 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 US 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 Floridas southwestern coast alone, Daniel Hokanson, a four-star general and head of the National Guard, told The Associated Press while airborne to Florida. Chris Schnapp was at the Port Sanibel Marina in Fort Myers on Saturday, waiting to see whether her 83-year-old mother-in-law had been evacuated from Sanibel Island. A pontoon boat had just arrived with a load of passengers from the island with suitcases and animals in tow but Schnapps mother-in-law was not among them.
She stayed on the island. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law own two businesses over there. They evacuated. She did not want to go,” Schnapp said. Now, she said, she wasnt sure if her mother-in-law was still on the island or had been taken to a shelter somewhere.
On Pine Island, the largest barrier island off Floridas Gulf Coast, houses were reduced to splinters and boats littered roadways as a volunteer rescue group went door-to-door Saturday, asking isolated residents if they wanted to be evacuated. Residents described the horror of being trapped in their homes as water kept rising. The water just kept pounding the house and we watched, boats, houses we watched everything just go flying by, said Joe Conforti, as he fought back tears. He said if it wasnt for his wife, who suggested they get up on a table to avoid the rising water, he wouldnt have made it: I started to lose sensibility, because when the waters at your door and its splashing on the door and youre seeing how fast its moving, theres no way youre going to survive that.” 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. Thats 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. While rising waters in Floridas southwest rivers have crested or are near cresting, the levels arent expected to drop significantly for days, said National Weather Service meteorologist Tyler Fleming in Tampa.
Elsewhere, South Carolinas Pawleys Island a beach community roughly 75 miles (115 kilometers) up the coast from Charleston was among the places hardest hit. Power remained knocked out to at least half of the island Saturday.
Eddie Wilder, who has been coming to Pawleys Island for more than six decades, said Fridays storm was insane. He said waves as high as 25 feet (7.6 meters) washed away the local pier an iconic landmark.
We watched it hit the pier and saw the pier disappear, said Wilder, whose house 30 feet (9 meters) above the ocean stayed dry inside. We watched it crumble and and watched it float by with an American flag.” The Pawleys pier was one of at least four along South Carolinas coast destroyed by battering winds and rain. Meanwhile, the intracoastal waterway was strewn with the remnants of several boat houses knocked off their pilings. John Joseph, whose father built the familys beige beach house in 1962, said Saturday he was elated to return from Georgetown which took a direct hit. He found his Pawleys Island home entirely intact.
Thank God these walls are still here, and we feel very blessed that this is the worst thing, he said of sand that had swept under his home. What happened in Florida gosh, God bless us. If wed had a Category 4, I wouldnt be here.
In North Carolina, the storm claimed four lives and mostly downed trees and power lines, leaving over 280,000 people statewide without power at one point Saturday morning, officials said. The outages were down sharply hours later, after crews worked to restore power.
Two of the North Carolina deaths were from storm-related vehicle crashes while officials said a man also drowned when his truck plunged into a swamp, and another man was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator in a garage.
At Port Sanibel Marina in Fort Myers, charter boat captain Ryan Kane inspected damage to two boats Saturday. The storm surge pushed several boats and a dock onshore. He said the boat he owns was totaled so he couldnt use it to help rescue people. Now, he said, it would be a long time before hed be chartering fishing clients again. Theres a hole in the hull. It took water in the motors. It took water in everything, he said, adding: You know boats are supposed to be in the water, not in parking lots.”
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