FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Individuals kayaking down streets that had been satisfactory only a day or two earlier. Tons of of 1000’s with out energy. Nationwide Guard helicopters flying rescue missions to residents nonetheless stranded on Florida’s barrier islands.
Days after Hurricane Ian carved a path of destruction from Florida to the Carolinas, the risks persevered, and even worsened in some locations. It was clear the highway to restoration from this monster storm might be lengthy and painful.
And Ian was nonetheless not executed. The storm doused Virginia with rain Sunday, and officers warned of the potential for extreme flooding alongside its coast, starting in a single day Monday.
Ian’s remnants moved offshore and shaped a nor’easter that’s anticipated to pile much more water into an already inundated Chesapeake Bay and threatened to trigger essentially the most important tidal flooding occasion in Virginia’s Hampton Roads area within the final 10 to fifteen years, mentioned Cody Poche, a Nationwide Climate Service meteorologist.
The island city of Chincoteague declared a state of emergency Sunday and strongly really helpful that residents in sure areas evacuate. The Jap Shore and northern portion of North Carolina’s Outer Banks had been additionally more likely to be impacted.
A minimum of 68 individuals have been confirmed useless: 61 in Florida, 4 in North Carolina and three in Cuba.
With the demise toll rising, Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Administration Company, mentioned the federal authorities was able to assist in an enormous manner, focusing first on victims in Florida, which took the brunt of one of many strongest storms to make landfall in america. President Joe Biden and first woman Jill Biden plan to go to the state on Wednesday.
Flooded roadways and washed-out bridges to barrier islands left many individuals remoted amid restricted cellphone service and a scarcity of fundamental facilities corresponding to water, electrical energy and the web. Officers warned that the scenario in lots of areas isn’t anticipated to enhance for a number of days as a result of the rain that fell has nowhere to go as a result of waterways are overflowing.
Fewer than 700,000 properties and companies in Florida had been nonetheless with out electrical energy by late Sunday, down from a peak of two.6 million.
Criswell informed “Fox Information Sunday” that the federal authorities, together with the Coast Guard and Division of Protection, had moved into place “the biggest quantity of search and rescue property that I believe we’ve ever put in place earlier than.”
Nonetheless, restoration will take time, mentioned Criswell, who visited the state Friday and Saturday to evaluate the harm and speak to survivors. She cautioned that risks stay with downed energy traces in standing water.
Greater than 1,600 individuals have been rescued statewide, in response to Florida’s emergency administration company.
Rescue missions had been ongoing, particularly to Florida’s barrier islands, which had been lower off from the mainland when storm surges destroyed causeways and bridges.
The state will construct a short lived visitors passageway for the biggest one, Pine Island, DeSantis mentioned Sunday, including that an allocation had been permitted for Deportment of Transportation to construct it this week and development might begin as quickly as Monday.
“It’s not going to be a full bridge, you’re going to should go over it in all probability at 5 miles an hour or one thing, nevertheless it’ll a minimum of let individuals get in and off the island with their automobiles,” the governor mentioned at a information convention.
Joe Raedle by way of Getty Photos
Coast Guard, municipal and personal crews have been utilizing helicopters, boats and even jetskis to evacuate individuals over the previous a number of days.
In rural Seminole County, north of Orlando, residents donned waders, boots and bug spray to paddle to their flooded properties Sunday.
Ben Bertat discovered 4 inches (10 centimeters) of water in his home by Lake Harney after kayaking there.
“I believe it’s going to worsen as a result of all of this water has to get to the lake” mentioned Bertat, pointing to the water flooding a close-by highway. “With floor saturation, all this swamp is full and it simply can’t take any extra water. It doesn’t appear like it’s getting any decrease.”
Elsewhere, energy remained knocked out to a minimum of half of South Carolina’s Pawleys Island, a seaside neighborhood roughly 75 miles (115 kilometers) up the coast from Charleston. In North Carolina, the storm downed timber and energy traces.
Related Press reporters Rebecca Santana in Ft. Myers; Brendan Farrington and Anthony Izaguirre in Tallahassee; David Fischer in Miami; Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Va.; and Richard Lardner in Washington contributed to this report.
For extra AP protection of Hurricane Ian: apnews.com/hub/hurricanes