Florida residents continue to struggle with yet-to-receed flood waters and ongoing search efforts as the state comes to terms with the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the North American continent .
The confirmed death toll, now 48, is expected to rise as more autopsies are completed and recovery efforts continue. President Biden warned that Ian could be Florida’s deadliest hurricane.
Biden and first lady Jill Biden plan to travel to Puerto Rico on Monday and Florida on Wednesday to survey hurricane damage in two places that have been significantly affected, the White House announced Saturday night.
Florida National Guard troops relied on high-water vehicles to drop off rescued residents at a North Port church on Saturday.
Connie Cullison, 67, said she was finally found on Saturday afternoon, after initially calling for help on Friday night. The rising water had cut off access to his home and Cullison needs a walker to get around after having knee replacement surgery.
“My house has minor damage, but we have no power, no water, no food,” Cullison said after being taken to the church. “But there are people far worse than me.”
The Florida Commission of Medical Examiners said Saturday night that the storm had caused 44 deaths in the state, most of them by drowning. Many of the victims were over 60 years old. Bodies were found in flooded cars, floating in the water and drowned on the beach. That number is expected to grow as rescuers comb through the debris and coroners perform autopsies. There were four storm-related deaths in North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said.
Officials said 30 of the victims in Florida were found in Lee County, which includes Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel and Cape Coral. The county has no running water and almost 70 percent of it has no electricity.
Explore aerial images of Hurricane Ian damage along the Florida coast
In the southwest and central regions of the state, nearly 800,000 homes and businesses remained without power Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us. In North Carolina, more than 26,000 customers are without power.
Meanwhile, several bridges were destroyed, which complicated the rescue work. The road to Sanibel, a 12-mile barrier island, became impassable, cutting the island off from the mainland.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told ABC News’ “This Week” that the island will be uninhabitable for the foreseeable future. “I think our priority right now is to identify the people who are left on Sanibel who wanted to stay there, but eventually have to leave because there’s no way to continue their lives there,” Rubio said, adding that it will take “a couple”. of years at least” to rebuild the bridge.
Rubio said the total damage was more devastating than anything he could remember in Florida history. “Fort Myers Beach doesn’t exist anymore. It’s going to have to be rebuilt,” he said. “It was a piece of old Florida that you can’t get back,” he said.
Speaking about the same program, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell said emergency workers are “still actively in the search and rescue phase” and are “going to every home to make sure we don’t leave anyone behind.”
Residents need to be vigilant to avoid post-storm hazards that can often cause more injuries and fatalities than the storm itself, Criswell said in a separate appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Stagnant water brings all kinds of dangers. It has leftovers. It could have power lines,” he said. He also warned residents to be aware of dehydration and the risk of heart attacks.
Several guests on the Sunday morning shows were also asked about the need for stricter building codes.
Florida officials must balance safety and accessibility when evaluating which laws and codes need to be changed, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Asked whether manufactured mobile homes should still be legal in Florida, Scott, who previously served as the state’s governor from 2011 to 2019, said individual counties had to evaluate what made sense for to its residents.
He noted that he had just taken an aerial tour of Charlotte County, north of Fort Myers, where he saw “an incredible amount of damage” to mobile home parks.
“Every county is going to have to look at it,” Scott said, referring to what types of structures should be allowed to rebuild after the hurricane.
“At the same time, people want to live in Florida. They want to live in the Sunshine State,” Scott said. “And, you know, the more expensive the housing you have, the harder it is for people to live there. I guess it’s a balance.”
Sanibel residents were told to evacuate ahead of the storm, but questions have been raised about how long it took Lee County officials to make evacuation decisions amid uncertain forecasts.
Criswell defended Lee County officials Sunday, saying the county “wasn’t even in the path of the hurricane” just 72 hours before the storm made landfall.
“As soon as the storm was predicted to hit Lee County, I know that local officials immediately put the appropriate measures in place to make sure that they were warning citizens to get out of harm’s way,” Criswell said on Sunday. from Fox News.”
Those who decided to ride out the great hurricane from their homes have begun to share their stories of camaraderie and loss in the wake of the storm.
Heavy flooding is also expected to continue into the next week in parts of central Florida, causing further destruction and further challenging cleanup and rescue efforts. The storm is already estimated to have caused more than $60 billion in property losses in Florida.
Hurricane-affected Floridians face gridlock, flooding and major damage
Major flood warnings have closed roads stretching from the Kissimmee River to the St. Johns in Central Florida. The National Weather Service is concerned that places like East Lake Tohopekaliga and Lake Tohopekaliga will see more flooding in the coming days, leading to more flooded areas downstream for inland areas like Orlando.
The Myakka River, which reached a record high, washed over Interstate 75, closing the major highway before it reopened Saturday afternoon. Officials continue to monitor the river level.
Water has already flooded buildings as far north as Astor’s homes near St. Johns and to the south as a retirement community in Kissimmee, outside of Orlando.
Tim Craig, Karoun Demirjian, Amy B Wang and Matt Brown contributed to this report.