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Hurricane Ian Devastates Florida, Death Count Crosses 40


Hurricane Ian devastates Florida, death toll surpasses 40

Aerial images and video show spectacular destruction

Florida:

The death toll from Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the United States, spiked above 40 on Saturday, as President Joe Biden traveled to Florida for the weekend to survey the extent of the devastation.

Shocked Florida communities are just beginning to face the full scale of the devastation, with rescuers still searching for survivors in flooded neighborhoods and along the east coast. southwest of the state.

Homes, restaurants and businesses were ripped apart when Ian made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday.

The Florida Board of Medical Examiners said late Saturday the number of confirmed hurricane-related deaths had risen to 44 statewide, but reports of other deaths are still emerging. by county – indicating a much higher final figure.

Hard-hit Lee County alone recorded 35 deaths, according to its sheriff, while US media including NBC and CBS counted more than 70 deaths directly or indirectly related to the storm.

In the coastal state of North Carolina, the governor’s office confirmed four Ian-related deaths there.

Biden and his wife, Jill, will visit Florida on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted, but the pair will first arrive in Puerto Rico on Monday to survey the devastation from a Another hurricane, Hurricane Fiona, hit US territory last month.

In Florida’s Lee County on Saturday, rescuers and ordinary people on boats were still rescuing the last residents stranded on the small island of Matlacha. Garbage, abandoned vehicles and fallen trees litter the main street of the village and the surrounding area is dotted with colorful wooden houses with corrugated iron roofs.

The community, home to about 800 people, has been cut off from the mainland due to two damaged bridges, and early fugitives have only just begun returning home to survey the destruction.

Sitting in the shadow of a deserted house in Matlacha, Chip Farrar told AFP that “nobody told us what to do, nobody told us where to go.”

“The order to evacuate came very late,” the 43-year-old said. “But anyway, most of the people who are still here won’t leave. It’s a very old-fashioned place. And most people have nowhere to go, that’s the biggest problem.”

According to the US Coast Guard, 16 migrants were missing on a boat that sank during the storm. Two people were found dead and nine others were rescued, including four Cubans who swam to shore in the Florida Keys.

More than 900,000 customers remained without power in Florida on Saturday night, hampering efforts by evacuees returning to their homes to stock up on what they had lost.

In Fort Myers Beach, a town on the Gulf of Mexico coast that suffered in the aftermath of the storm, Pete Belinda said his home “just overturned, drenched, covered in mud”.

Ian crossed Florida and entered the Atlantic before making landfall again in the US, this time hitting the coast of South Carolina on Friday as a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles. (140 km) per hour.

It was later downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, and it dissipated over Virginia late Saturday.

More than 45,000 people remain without power across North Carolina and Virginia, website tracker poweroutage.us said Saturday.

CoreLogic, a property analysis firm, said wind-related damage to residential and commercial properties in Florida could cost insurers up to $32 billion, while losses due to floods can amount to 15 billion USD.

“This is the most expensive Florida hurricane since Hurricane Andrew made landfall in 1992,” said CoreLogic’s Tom Larsen.

– Continue to rescue –

As of Saturday morning, Governor Ron DeSantis’ office said more than 1,100 rescues had been carried out across Florida.

DeSantis reports that hundreds of lifeguards are going door-to-door “up and down the shoreline.”

Many Floridians evacuated before the storm, but thousands chose to shelter in place and weather it.

Two heavily affected barrier islands near Fort Myers – Pine Island and Sanibel Island – were severed after the storm damaged causeways inland.

Aerial photos and videos show spectacular devastation in Sanibel and elsewhere.

Several restaurants and bars have reopened in Fort Myers, creating the illusion of normalcy amid fallen trees and dilapidated storefronts.

Before attacking Florida, Ian plunged the whole of Cuba into darkness after knocking out the island’s power grid.

Electricity has gradually returned, mainly in Havana, but many homes are still without electricity.

A new Pacific storm, Hurricane Orlene, has strengthened to Category 2 off the coast of Mexico, where it is forecast to make landfall in the coming days.

Human-caused climate change is leading to more extreme weather events around the globe, scientists say.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from the syndication feed.)

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