By ADRIANA GOMEZ-LICON
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (AP) — Rescue crews waded by means of flooded streets and used boats Thursday in a scramble to save lots of individuals trapped after Hurricane Ian destroyed a cross-section of Florida and introduced torrential rains that continued to fall.
The destruction started to come back into focus a day after Ian made landfall in Florida as one of many strongest hurricanes ever to hit to the U.S. The storm flooded properties on each of the state’s coasts, reduce off the one bridge to a barrier island, destroyed a historic waterfront pier and knocked out electrical energy to 2.5 million Florida properties and companies. At least one man was confirmed useless.
“We’ve never seen storm surge of this magnitude,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis instructed a information convention. “The amount of water that’s been rising, and will likely continue to rise today even as the storm is passing, is basically a 500-year flooding event.”
Though downgraded to a tropical storm by Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center stated storm surge and flooding rains remained a menace as Ian crept throughout the Florida peninsula and emerged within the Atlantic Ocean. Forecasters predicted a northward flip towards South Carolina, and a hurricane warning was issued for the state’s shoreline.
Sheriffs in southwest Florida stated 911 facilities have been inundated by 1000’s of stranded callers, some with life-threatening emergencies. The U.S. Coast Guard started rescue efforts round dawn on barrier islands close to the place the Ian struck, DeSantis stated. Fire departments fanned out in flooded areas as properly.
In the Orlando space, Orange County firefighters used boats to succeed in individuals in a flooded neighborhood. A photograph the division posted on Twitter confirmed one firefighter carrying somebody in his arms by means of knee-deep water. At an space nursing dwelling surrounded by water, sufferers have been carried on stretchers throughout floodwaters to a ready bus.
In Fort Myers, just a few miles west of the barrier island the place Ian got here ashore, Valerie Bartley’s household spent determined hours Wednesday holding a eating room desk in opposition to their patio door, fearing the storm raging outdoors “was tearing our house apart.”
“I was terrified,” Bartley stated. “What we heard was the shingles and debris from everything in the neighborhood hitting our house.”
She stated her 4-year-old daughter grabbed her hand and stated: “I’m scared too, but it’s going to be OK.” The lady was proper. The storm ripped away patio screens and snapped a palm tree within the yard, Bartley stated, however left the roof intact and her household unhurt.
Authorities confirmed at the very least one Florida loss of life — a 72-year-old man in Deltona who fell right into a canal whereas utilizing a hose to empty his pool within the heavy rain, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office stated. Two different storm deaths have been reported in Cuba after Ian struck the island nation earlier.
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno stated his workplace was scrambling to answer 1000’s of 911 calls, however many roads and bridges in Fort Myers and the encompassing space stay impassable.
“It crushed us.” Marceno instructed ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “We still cannot access many of the people that are in need.”
Emergency crews sawed by means of toppled timber to succeed in stranded individuals. Many within the hardest-hit areas have been unable to name for assist amid widespread electrical and mobile outages.
“Portable towers are on the way for cell service. Chances are your loved ones do not have ability to contact you,” stated the sheriff’s workplace in Collier County, which incorporates Naples. “We can tell you as daylight reveals the aftermath, it’s going to be a hard day.”
A piece of the Sanibel Causeway fell into the ocean, slicing off entry to the barrier island the place 6,300 individuals usually dwell. It was unknown what number of had heeded orders to evacuate, however Charlotte County Emergency Management Director Patrick Fuller expressed cautious optimism that worst-case situations may not have been realized.
No deaths or accidents have been confirmed within the county, and flyovers of barrier islands present “the integrity of the homes is far better than we anticipated,” Fuller stated.
South of Sanibel Island, the historic beachfront pier in Naples acquired destroyed, with even the pilings beneath torn out, as towering waves crashed over the construction. “Right now, there is no pier,” stated Penny Taylor, a Collier County commissioner.
In Port Charlotte, a hospital’s emergency room flooded and fierce winds ripped away a part of the roof, sending water gushing down into the intensive care unit. The sickest sufferers — some on ventilators — have been crowded into the center two flooring because the workers ready for storm victims to reach, stated Dr. Birgit Bodine of HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital.
The Florida Highway Patrol shut down the Florida Turnpike within the Orlando space and stated the primary artery in the course of the state will stay closed till water subsides.
Ian struck Florida as a monstrous Category 4 storm, with 150 mph (241 kph) winds that tied it for the fifth-strongest hurricane ever to hit the U.S.
Even after weakening, Ian’s tropical-storm pressure winds nonetheless reached 415 miles (667 kilometers) from its middle. The hurricane middle warned storm surge of 6 ft (1.83 meters) or extra was potential from Daytona Beach, Florida, to north of Charleston, South Carolina. And rainfall of as much as 8 inches (20.32 centimeters) threatened flooding within the Carolinas and Virginia.
“It doesn’t matter what the intensity of the storm is. We’re still expecting quite a bit of rainfall,” Robbie Berg, senior hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center, stated in an interview with The Associated Press.
The U.S. Coast Guard initiated a search and rescue mission for 23 individuals after a ship carrying Cuban migrants sank Wednesday in stormy climate east of Key West. It discovered three survivors, and 4 others swam to shore, the U.S. Border Patrol stated. Air crews continued to seek for presumably 20 remaining migrants.
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Associated Press contributors embrace Cody Jackson in Tampa, Florida; Freida Frisaro in Miami; Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida; Seth Borenstein and Aamer Madhani in Washington; Bobby Caina Calvan in New York; and Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus, Ohio.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”