Ian’s death toll rises as massive rescue efforts continue in Florida

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Top Florida officials said Friday that the death toll wrought by Hurricane Ian has reached 21 people as search and rescue teams continue to comb through scores of wreckage hunting for survivors.

The state, aided by federal and local responders, has performed more than 700 rescues thus far and made contact with 3,000 people who sheltered in place throughout the massive storm. Search and rescue teams are continuing to look for more people who may have been trapped by severe flooding. U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Linda Lee Fagan said on MSNBC Friday that rescuers are going house-to-house in some areas, using a grid system to ensure no one is missed.

In one particularly grim incident, a rescue diver in an unspecified county encountered a home with water over its rooftop. Inside, there appeared to be “human remains” but officials won’t be able to confirm anything until the flood waters reside, Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said Friday.

“We want to be transparent, but we just don’t know that number,” Guthrie said regarding fatalities.

Some 1.9 million people are still without power — mostly in southwest Florida, which was hit the hardest. The storm made landfall near Fort Myers in Lee County on Wednesday, bringing with it catastrophic flooding and damaging winds. The storm moved east into the Atlantic Ocean Thursday but is expected to make landfall in South Carolina near Charleston on Friday. President Joe Biden spoke with South Carolina GOP Gov. Henry McMaster on Friday and earlier issued an emergency declaration for the state.

“When you look at some of these things, like you see a house totally washed out and it’s nothing but a concrete slab on Ft. Meyers beach, you just pray to God no one was in that,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a morning hurricane briefing.

As of Friday morning, there were 12 deaths in Charlotte County believed to be tied with the hurricane; eight in Collier County and one in Polk County, according to state officials. Officials, however, did not speculate the possible number of fatalities in badly-hit Lee County, where reports on Thursday indicated that at least five people died there from the storm.

The sheriff of Lee County, Carmine Marceno, speculated on “Good Morning America” early Thursday morning that fatalities “are in the hundreds” in his area. Biden on Thursday also said that early reports indicate that there could be substantial loss of life. DeSantis, however, has attempted to downplay that possibility, remaining hopeful that search and rescue operations will turn up survivors.

“You kind of have a lump in your throat because you just don’t know what’s going to happen,” DeSantis said of Marceno’s estimate. “I think that was done because there’s concern for the well-being of the people of Lee County, and there’s a concern of the damage that this storm has done.”

Hurricane Ian, which made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, unleashed winds of 150 mph when it crashed ashore Wednesday — causing what DeSantis described as a “500-year flood event.” At least 15,000 people were sheltering in place during the storm. Before it made landfall, more than 2.5 million people were under evacuation orders.

One of the state’s top priorities as of Friday is working with federal and local officials to repair the water main break in Lee County, DeSantis said. The water main damage means that no water is currently getting to the county and its 750,000-plus residents. The United States Army Corps of Engineers is expected to be key in making that happen. To that end, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell is in Florida with DeSantis to assess the damages and offer support. Biden, who spoke with DeSantis by phone Friday, is also expected to visit Florida soon.

Biden on Thursday declared Ian a major disaster, opening up more aid for the state and individual assistance to residents of several counties. Criswell said Friday that the feds will soon add more counties to the list.

“FEMA is here to support these ongoing efforts right now to continue the lifesaving missions that are still ongoing, but to also to begin to support the recovery mission,” Criswell said during the Friday morning briefing.

Ian brought near Category 5 winds to Florida’s southwest coast along with devastating rains and storm surges that exceeded 10 feet in some areas. The storm’s wrath and its massive rainfall will be felt in most corners of Florida.

Florida as of Friday has inspected and reopened an estimated 800 bridges, including some in high priority areas in the southwest, DeSantis said. The state is working to clear roadways and set up staging areas for local residents to secure food and water. Fuel is being delivered to the state, but electricity continues to be an issue plaguing that coast.

As of 6 a.m. Friday, there were some 1.9 million customers without power in Florida, DeSantis said — down from the 2.5 million reported on Thursday evening.

Hardee County is almost completely powerless while Charlotte and Lee counties are facing outages of roughly 85 percent. About 80 percent of customers are without power in DeSoto County while Sarasota, Collier and Manatee counties have about 50 percent of their electricity in operation.

Some school districts that closed campuses for the storm reopened on Friday, including Miami Dade and Broward counties on the southwest coast. Dozens of school districts, however, remain closed at least through Friday as they deal with power outages and possible flooding.

Schools in Lee, Charlotte and Collier counties could be closed even longer. Officials in Lee County are even unable to update the school district website due to outages.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday that the feds have deployed “thousands” of people among FEMA, the cybersecurity infrastructure agency and even TSA to aid Florida.

“This is an all of government, all of community effort to address the needs of a community that has been struck so devastatingly by this storm,” Mayorkas said on Morning Joe.

Kelly Garrity contributed to this report.