Florida officials said they identified about three dozen deaths that may have been related to the storm and expected more deaths as damage was assessed. Our correspondents are here.
Nearly 48 hours after devastating Florida’s southwest coast, Yan launched a much weaker strike against South Carolina on Friday. The storm made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane with strong winds and heavy rain, but initial damage reports weren’t all that bad. In Florida, officials said at least 30 deaths could be linked to the storm and that number is expected to rise.
Yang was no longer considered a tropical storm about four hours after it made landfall in Georgetown, South Carolina between Charleston and Myrtle Beach. But the National Hurricane Center said it could still cause dangerous high winds and flooding.
Fort Myers Beach, in southwest Florida, was particularly hard hit Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “Some houses were razed to the ground.”
Protests erupted across Cuba as desperate citizens demanded that the government restore electricity and send aid to areas ravaged by Yan this week.
As of Friday evening, about 1.4 million customers were without power in Florida, and about 566,000 people were without power in the Carolinas and Virginia.
The death toll from Hurricane Ian in Florida may take weeks to become apparent, but the state medical board reported the first confirmed deaths Friday night.
Autopsies of 23 people aged 22 to 92 confirmed that most of them drowned. The bodies were found loaded into their car, floating in flood water and drowned on the beach. Most of the victims were over 60 years old, 10 were over 70 years old. The age of the three victims is unknown.
Most of the deaths have occurred in Lee County, which is home to hard-hit Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Sanibel Island.
Four people also died in Volusia County, where Daytona Beach is located. In one case, it was about a woman who seemed to be swept away by a wave into the sea.
In addition to drowning, a 38-year-old man in Lake County died Wednesday when his car overturned. A 71-year-old man fell off a roof while installing rain shutters in Sarasota County on Tuesday. On Friday, a 22-year-old woman from Manatee County was killed when an all-terrain vehicle overturned on a flooded road.
Officials note that statistics are only the beginning. “We expect this number to grow,” said David Fierro, public relations coordinator for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The US Coast Guard said it had rescued 325 people and 83 pets as of 6 p.m. Friday and assisted several first responders from other agencies with medical assistance. The Coast Guard said it was also delivering supplies to those in need.
Steve, Steve Cohen, and Steve Cohen suddenly arrived in South Carolina from Dallas looking for a quick getaway. But on Friday, they mourned the devastation surrounding their waterfront home in Lichfield Beach, South Carolina, not far from where Ian landed on Friday. Since sea water floods the railing seven feet above the ground, they have a new rule of thumb for hurricanes. “We discussed it,” said Steve Cohen. “Anything above 1, forget it. We’ll be back when it’s over.”
A spokesman for the North Carolina Department of Emergency Management said that as of Friday evening, the biggest problem was massive power outages. “We had about 20,000 outages at 2pm today and we are now approaching 300,000 outages,” spokesman Keith Akri said. “It’s just a combination of wind and rain, a lot of trees are down,” he said, wind speeds need to drop below 30 mph before any repairs can begin.
FORT MYERS, Florida. Forecasters’ warnings have become more urgent as Hurricane Ian hit the west coast of Florida this week. A life-threatening storm surge threatened to flood the entire area from Tampa to Fort Myers.
But while officials across much of the coastline ordered evacuations on Monday, emergency managers in Lee County delayed the operation while deciding whether to allow people to run during the day, but then decided to see how the forecast changed during the night.
In the days before Hurricane Yang made landfall, forecasters predicted a strong storm surge off the coast of Florida. Despite warnings, Lee County officials issued an evacuation order a day later than other coastal counties.
The delay, in clear violation of the county’s cautious evacuation strategy for such emergencies, could have had catastrophic consequences that are still worrisome as the death toll continues to rise.
Dozens of people have died in the state as Yang, relegated to a post-tropical cyclone, drove through North Carolina and Virginia on Saturday, knocking out nearly 400,000 electricity customers in those states at one point, officials said.
Nearly 35 people died in the state’s deadliest hurricane in Lee County, as survivors described a sudden surge of water – something the National Hurricane Service had predicted days before the hurricane hit – causing some of them to scramble into attics for safety . and roofs.
Lee County, which includes the hardest hit coastal Fort Myers Beach, as well as the cities of Fort Myers, Sanibel and Cape Coral, had until Tuesday morning to issue a mandatory evacuation order from areas that could be hardest hit. ordered its most vulnerable inhabitants to flee.
By then, some residents recalled, they had little time to evacuate. Dana Ferguson, 33, a paramedic from Fort Myers, said she was at work when the first text message appeared on her phone Tuesday morning. By the time she got home, it was too late to find a place to go, so she squatted down and waited with her husband and three children as a wall of water began to rise through the Fort Myers area, including some areas away from flood waters. coastline.
Ms Ferguson said she and her family fled to the second floor when water rose from their living room, dragging away the generator and dry food. The 6-year-old girl burst into tears.
Lee County Commissioner and former Sanibel Mayor Kevin Ruan said the county delayed the mass evacuation order because earlier hurricane models showed the storm was moving north.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and his state director of emergency response also said earlier forecasts predicted the storm’s main thrust would hit further north.
“One storm that hits northern Florida will have peripheral impacts in your area, and another storm will have immediate impacts,” Mr. DeSantis said at a news conference in Lee County on Friday. “So what I see in Southwest Florida is that they act quickly when the data changes.”
But while Hurricane Ian’s trail did move toward Lee County days before landfall, the risk of a run into Lee County—even more northerly—became apparent as early as Sunday night.
At the time, models produced by the National Hurricane Center indicated that a storm surge could cover much of Cape Coral and Fort Myers. Even with this scenario, parts of Fort Myers Beach have a 40 percent chance of a 6-foot storm surge, according to storm surge forecasts.
Lee County’s contingency planning document outlined a contingency strategy noting that the region’s large population and limited road network make it difficult to quickly evacuate the county. After years of work, the county has developed a phased approach that scales up evacuations based on confidence in the risk. “Serious incidents may require decisions to be made with little or no reliable information,” the document says.
The County Plan recommends an initial evacuation even if there is a 10 percent chance that the storm surge will exceed 6 feet above the ground; it also requires evacuation if there is a 60 percent chance of a three-foot storm surge, based on the sliding scale.
In addition to Sunday night’s forecast, Monday’s update warned of a 10 to 40 percent chance of storm surges over 6 feet in many areas of Cape Coral and Fort Myers, with some areas likely to experience over 9 feet of storm surge.
Within hours Monday, neighboring Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota, and Charlotte counties issued evacuation orders, with Sarasota County announcing that the evacuation order was to go into effect the next morning. However, Lee County officials said they expect a more timely assessment the following morning.
“Once we better understand all of these dynamics, we will have a better understanding of which areas we may need to evacuate and at the same time determine which shelters will be open,” County Manager Lee Roger said Monday afternoon. Desjarlet. .
But forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are increasingly warning about the region. In a 5:00 p.m. update on Monday, they wrote that the area at highest risk for a “life-threatening storm surge” is from Fort Myers to Tampa Bay.
“Residents in these areas should consult with local authorities,” the hurricane center wrote. New models show that some areas along Fort Myers beaches are more likely to experience 6-foot waves.
One of the problems facing the district is that local schools are designed as shelters and the school board decided not to work on Monday, district chief Mr Rune said.
The next morning, at 7 a.m. Tuesday, Mr. Desjarlais announced a partial evacuation, but stressed that “the area being evacuated was small” compared to previous evacuations due to the storm.
The county has delayed further evacuations despite forecasts showing a possible influx to areas not covered by the order. Officials extended their evacuation orders later in the morning.
By noon, Lee County officials’ advice had gained momentum: “Time to evacuate, windows are closing,” they wrote in a Facebook post.
Katherine Morong, 32, said she prepared earlier in the week to ride out the storm based on guidance from local authorities. She said she was shocked by the sudden evacuation order on Tuesday morning as she set out in the rain.
“The county could be more active and give us more time to evacuate,” she said. She said she was driving through the pouring rain on her way east of the state and there was a tornado nearby.
Joe Brosso, 65, said he did not receive any evacuation notices. He said he considered evacuating as a storm surge began on Wednesday morning, but realized it was too late.
He took his 70-year-old wife and dog up the stairs to the basement in his garage. He brought tools in case he needed to escape through the roof.
“It’s terrible,” Mr. Brosso said. “It was the scariest thing. Trying to get this dog and my wife up the stairs in the basement. And then spend six hours there.”
Some residents said they saw the forecast but chose to stay at home anyway – veterans of many past storms whose dire predictions did not come true.
“People have been told, they’ve been told the dangers, and some have just made the decision that they don’t want to leave,” Mr. DeSantis said Friday.
Joe Santini, a retired medical assistant, said he would not leave his home even though the evacuation order was given before the storm. He said he had lived in the Fort Myers area for most of his life and didn’t know where else to go.
Water rushed into his house early Wednesday evening and was still about a foot above the ground on Friday – much to Mr. Santini’s surprise. “I don’t think he’s ever been this edgy,” he said.
Lee County is currently the epicenter of the disaster, with massive damage to Fort Myers Beach, partial collapse of the Sanibel Road, and entire areas in ruins. County utilities are advising residents to boil water due to a broken plumbing.
Post time: Dec-06-2022