Our live coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Ian has ended for the day. See the latest news on the storm here or read the posts below.
A stranded, shivering, wet cat was rescued by a local resident as Hurricane Ian battered the area.
Mike Ross, 29, was riding out the hurricane at his parents’ house in Bonita Beach, Florida, when his mother noticed a cat clinging for its life on top of an air-conditioning unit.
“If we didn’t peek there and see the cat at the moment, he would’ve been gone for sure.” Ross told CNN.
Ross knew he had to do what he could to save the cat.
As Ross ventured outside to rescue the feline he was met with rushing waters.
“What people don’t think about is about the objects that could be in the water,” Ross said, “Things like bricks and wood were hitting my legs.”
The cat was shivering, wet and scared, according to Ross. “Who knows how long he was in water before he found that AC unit,” He said.
Once he safely retrieved the cat, he made his way back inside where he placed the cat in the bathroom to recover, as he was still very terrified.
Ross and his parents have been staying at Ross’ girlfriend’s house, but they were able to go back and visit their home once.
“That air conditioner is now gone, the house that was attached to it is pretty much gone, and even my parents’ house, which was pretty much concrete, just crumbled.” Ross said.
They are still actively looking for the owner of the cat, but vets in the area have not yet reopened for them to check if the cat is microchipped.
They’ve been posting on social media and hope the viral video of Ross saving the cat reaches the owner.
The decided Ian would be a fitting name for the feline, but they realized the cat is a female so they may settle with Iania or Storm.
Half of the proceeds raised from a GoFundMe they created will go to the Naples Humane Society.
Florida is working with Elon Musk to help restore communication in the state following Hurricane Ian, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“We’re also working with Elon Musk and Starlink satellite. So they’re positioning those Starlink satellites to provide good coverage in Southwest Florida and other affected areas,” DeSantis said at a media conference in Fort Myers on Saturday.
Starlink is a satellite-based internet service.
Emergency responders in Lee County, which bore the brunt of Ian’s impact when it made landfall as a Category 4 storm earlier this week, will be among those receiving Starlink devices.
“At the same time, we are working with SpaceX, and we are expecting 120 additional large Starlink units to deploy to Southwest Florida,” DeSantis said. “And so, they’ve donated the cost associated with all the coverage, so we want to thank SpaceX and thank Elon Musk for that.”
The Florida Medical Examiners Commission is reporting a fifth death in Volusia County attributed to Hurricane Ian, according to a news release from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
CNN’s tally is currently at least 65 deaths in Florida. Here’s the current breakdown by county:
Edgar Stephens, who manages the Cherry Grove Pier in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, stood yards away as a 100-foot section from the pier’s middle came crashing into the ocean.
He said the Cherry Grove Pier is a staple for community members and tourists alike.
The pier has been rebuilt after storms twice since the 1980s, said Stephens, who added that the family who owns the pier is committed to rebuilding, though it could take six or seven months to obtain the necessary building materials.
Jeff Stankard, a resident of Naples, Florida, showed CNN his apartment and what’s left of his belongings after it was flooded with more than 3 feet of water in about 30 minutes.
Outside the apartment, his furniture — including his dining room set, vanity, drawers and even his great-great grandmother’s rocking chair — was piled up. He told CNN’s Brian Todd that he’s not sure what he can salvage, if anything, as there was raw sewage backup.
He said that he and his wife had just started a men’s swimwear company, which he thinks now may be in jeopardy
“We were just getting it going. We were just up in Fort Myers, Sarasota, Venice calling on shop owners at surf shops. They’re all right there close to the beach. I don’t know if they made it or not,” he said.
Stankard said he’s still in a state of shock from losing everything.
Four storm-related deaths have been reported in North Carolina, according to a release from Gov. Roy Cooper’s office.
Three people died in separate vehicle-related incidents on Friday, according to the release.
A 25-year-old man died after hydroplaning and crashing into another vehicle, a 24-year-old woman died when her vehicle went off a wet road and struck a tree, and a 22-year-old man drowned when his truck ran off the road and submerged in a flooded swamp, according to the release.
The deaths occurred in Johnston, Clayton, and Martin counties, respectively, according to the release.
On Saturday, a 65-year-old man died from carbon monoxide poisoning after running a generator in a closed garage, the release said. The man’s wife is hospitalized.
Ian transitioned from a tropical system to a mid-latitude storm Friday afternoon as it moved farther inland over the Carolinas. Tropical storm-force winds extended well out from the center and impacted much of the eastern Carolinas on Friday.
No storm-related deaths have been reported in South Carolina after the state’s first hurricane to make landfall in five years hit Friday, Gov. Henry McMaster said during a press conference Saturday afternoon.
“There is some damage, there’s some heartbreak, there’s work to be done,” McMaster said. “But all in all, it’s a good story.”
McMaster said most of the state’s electricity has been restored.
Eight counties are reporting residential damage and five counties are reporting some level of business damage, South Carolina Director of State Emergency Management Division Kim Stenson said.
Damage assessments will determine if residents qualify for federal assistance, Stenson said.
Stenson said the emergency operation center will transition back to regular operations today.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said thousands of residents are still being impacted by flooding, water intrusions into their homes and lack of power. But Dyer said Orlando is now down from 95,000 customers without power to around 7,000 customers still in the dark.
“OUC [Orlando Utilities Commission] is working very hard to reduce that number as well,” he said, speaking at the Federal Emergency Management Agency press conference in Orange County, Florida, on Saturday afternoon.
Dyer thanked President Joe Biden and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell for including Orlando in their emergency declaration, as well as local authorities and rescue crews.
“I want to especially thank the men and women of the Orlando Police Department, Orlando Fire Department, public works, parks, rec, forestry, all that have been out on the first line helping and responding to citizens, many of whom have had extended periods of time and worked extremely hard to try to restore our community to where we need to be,” the mayor said.
The Humane Society of Naples is calling for assistance after the closure of Intestate 75 near North Port, Florida, cut off the agency’s ability to transport animals.
“With this morning’s bad news that Interstate 75 is closed heading north for the foreseeable future, we are issuing a call for help from anyone that may have a private plane that could help us transport animals between Naples and Sarasota. We have partners ready and willing to accept animal transports, but we may need help flying them to Sarasota, as the drive is currently impossible,” the organization said in a Facebook post.
Dave Feenan, chief marketing and development officer with the Humane Society of Naples, told CNN that his agency is attempting to move 50 to 100 animals from Sarasota to their shelter in Naples.
He said today’s Interstate 75 closure turned what was normally a two-hour drive to a six-hour drive that he described as “almost impossible” for large transports of animals.
Feenan said the Humane Society of Naples emptied its shelter prior to Hurricane Ian’s arrival and are in rescue mode trying to assist neighbors now, sending 75 to 80 pets to South Carolina. He said the Naples shelter has already taken in 50 animals from Fort Myers and have more coming.
After this morning’s Facebook post, they’ve already had pilots with two small aircraft offer assistance, he said.
The federal agency responsible for regulating guns and explosives is asking licensed dealers to promptly report to law enforcement any items in their inventory lost or damaged during Hurricane Ian.
“Following a disaster, any federal firearms or explosives licensee or federal explosives permittee experiencing a theft, loss, or damage to their inventory should contact ATF and their local [law enforcement] agency ASAP,” the ATF said in a statement Saturday.
As CNN has reported, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has been raising alarms over the past year regarding the number of stolen weapons that have been used in violent crimes across the country.
Under federal law, gun and explosives dealers require licenses administered and managed by ATF.
Prior to Ian’s landfall, the agency issued a special advisory to dealers in the path of the storm, encouraging the establishment of a disaster preparedness plan “to safeguard their businesses by protecting explosives, firearms, and required records.”
Some Florida residents located on the west side of Arcadia, a small town along Highway 70 in DeSoto County, are stuck due to flooding from the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
County sheriff’s deputies tell CNN that half of DeSoto County is landlocked and the only way to get water to people is to distribute it by boat. The mile-long stretch along Highway 70 from the west side of town to the center has been completely flooded by water from the nearby Peace River, blocking access for communities to reach stores, power, and resources.
Arcadia is located approximately 50 miles north of Fort Myers.
The Peace River is usually only 6 to 7 feet high, but is now 24 feet high, according to Mac Martin, a resident who has lived in Arcadia for over 60 years. The flooding has made the mile-long stretch of road impassable by vehicle, and locals stuck on the west side of the flooding say that what is usually a 5-minute journey now takes up to an hour to travel around the flooding.
Other residents say the surrounding roads are blocked as well, so those who are waiting for generators and fuel say they’re stuck. The only store on the west side of the flooding is underwater, and there’s nothing further west for 20 miles.
Dotted along the flooded zone are the tops of large RVs, which used to be parked in the nearby Peace River Campground. But Hurricane Ian dragged them out of the campsite, and the overflow from the river continues to rise so that they are nearly covered.
“The day after the storm, we could drive right through this part of town,” Linda Campbell said, another resident of western Arcadia.
Now, as the water rises, the people who live in western Arcadia rely on airboats to get water, food, generators and other supplies across. Locals told CNN that multiple people were transported by airboat on Friday to ambulances waiting for them on the other sides. There’s no other way to access the local hospital for those who need help.
Joan Godwin lives on the east side of town, where there is no flooding, but she’s been stuck on the west side of town for days.
On Saturday, the National Guard and officials from the DeSoto and Hardee counties’ sheriff’s offices made boat trips to and from the west side of Arcadia, bringing water and small rations of food.
One father said his 6-month-old and 5-year-old were sitting in a heated home while he waited for a generator he’d already purchased to be brought to him from the other side.
Though conditions are tough right now, some residents remain hopeful.
Linda Campbell said seeing supplies be brought to them has been “wonderful.”
“When we went through Hurricane Charley, it was the same thing — everybody stuck together. These airboats are going out taking people into town. They’re being family and taking people,” she said.
Watch the airboats here:
The process of cleanup and debris removal is underway throughout Horry County, South Carolina, with a local emergency management official telling CNN the community was largely spared from widespread damage.
“Overall, the county did pretty well,” Horry County Emergency Management Services spokesman Thomas Bell told CNN. “Not even a hurricane force gust [of wind], which really helped minimize the damage,” he added.
In North Myrtle Beach, the focus on cleanup was some light debris removal on the streets. On the beach, dozens of curious locals walked to see the damage to the town’s beloved Cherry Grove Pier, which was cut in half by Hurricane Ian.
A CNN crew saw a front loader on the beach Saturday morning removing chunks of the pier which had washed up on shore. There were also officials on the still-standing portion of the pier assessing the damage.
Meanwhile, in Garden City, a lower-lying community outside of Myrtle Beach, emergency crews were also out working, doing damage assessments, and clearing debris, Bell said.
There were no reports of injuries or fatalities in the county that he was aware of, Bell added.
As of 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Horry County had closed its emergency operations center.
Approximately 1.3 million Florida residents are still without power in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian as of Saturday morning, a top Federal Emergency Management Administration official said during a media briefing Saturday.
FEMA Assistant Administrator Anne Bink said the agency is working with the Army Corps of Engineers to provide temporary power to those while efforts to restore power statewide continue. The Army Corps of Engineers is establishing “generating stations” in Florida and has deployed temporary emergency power restoration teams throughout the state.
Bink said FEMA currently has 2,000 employees in the state and has 238 generators staged across the eastern seaboard ready to deploy as needed.
Bink said FEMA’s efforts in Florida are currently focused on search and rescue operations, debris removal, power and water restoration and distributing resources. US Coast Guard Commander Rear Admiral Brendan McPherson said all agencies have rescued 4,000 people across the state in the past three days. Of those 4,000, McPherson said the Coast Guard has rescued “a little over 400” people in that time
“I’d say the large majority of those (400 rescues) are from the barrier islands that were cut off from the mainland part of Florida,” McPherson said.
He said the Coast Guard’s search and rescue efforts are primarily focused on evacuating people stranded on barrier islands with no access to the rest of the state.
McPherson offered a stark assessment of the damage to Sanibel Island, one of the barrier islands in Southeast Florida that was hard-hit.
“I think some people might have thought they could stay there for a little while. I think after camping out there after about a night or two, they’re realizing that’s not a viable option,” McPherson added.
Bink said approximately 10,000 people were displaced from their homes and forced to stay in shelters overnight Friday, and that FEMA is coordinating with the Red Cross to provide temporary housing across the state.
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno on Saturday morning provided an update on storm-related deaths and recovery efforts, saying the county has done 600 to 700 rescues and is reporting “about 35” deaths.
“It’s with a heavy heart that I say that number,” Marceno said in a Facebook post Saturday morning. “I want to release the information of the deceased as soon as I can, but there’s a process, next of kin and family members that have to be notified the proper way, rather than through a stranger or someone that just gives them information.”
With this update from Lee County, CNN’s death toll from Hurricane Ian stands at at least 64.
Aerial before-and-after photos show the stark reality that some Floridians are now facing after Ian destroyed homes, businesses and roads.
Sanibel Causeway:
Fort Myers:
Sanibel Island:
Nearly 100 members of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Florida Task Force One continue conducting field reconnaissance in Sanibel Island by going to the roads on foot and stopping door-to-door to check on those who have been trapped inside their homes and need assistance.
The task force, along with other search and rescue squads, have been loading up survivors and pets, and transporting them to the Sanibel Fire Station, where helicopters are on standby to assist in the evacuation operations, according to MDFR.
Here’s what the scene looked like on Thursday:
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue also said today it is in Cape Coral, making rescues and assisting people — especially the elderly — with food and water.
North Port Fire Chief Scott Titus said his community still has 7 to 8 feet of flooding in some areas, and there will be a “long, long recovery period.”
North Port is located on the southern end of Sarasota County. The fire chief told CNN’s Boris Sanchez that a compromised levee further north in the county only affected one community, essentially “went into a bowl” and does not pose a threat to the rest of the county.
There are other “significant infrastructure issues,” he said, with thousands of homes that have water in them.
Crews rescued about 150 people overnight, bringing them to shelters, he said.
“It’s been quite an operation. Some of our major thoroughfares have become impassable even as the water recedes, there is washouts. So we’ve got a long, long recovery period,” Titus said.
As post-tropical cyclone Ian continues to weaken near the Virginia-North Carolina border, the National Hurricane Center warns that “major to record” river flooding could continue through next week in areas of Florida.
Heavy rain and gusty winds will impact portions of the Mid-Atlantic region and New England coast Saturday, the National Weather Prediction Center said, and “limited flash, urban, and small stream flooding” is possible across the central Appalachians and southern Mid-Atlantic this weekend, according to the NHC.
Here’s what we know right now:
Deaths: At least 45 people have been killed after Hurricane Ian tore through Florida from Wednesday through Friday.
This is the current CNN death toll by county in Florida:
Power outages: About 1.7 million customers are still without power in four states, including more than 1.2 million in Florida alone. More than 337,000 customers in North Carolina have lost power, mostly in the central region of the state. In South Carolina, about 57,000 customers are without power along the northeast part of the state. In Virginia, more than 91,000 customers have lost power.
A spokesperson for Florida Power & Light said it could take weeks to restore power in Florida’s hardest-hit southwestern areas.
Damage:
This week, Ian left a trail of destruction felt most intensely in Florida’s southwestern coastal communities, including Fort Myers and Naples. Tampa, Orlando and cities along Florida’s northeastern coast were also impacted by downpours, flooding and high winds.
Sanibel and Captiva islands have been cut off from the mainland after parts of a causeway were obliterated by the storm.
See striking before-and-after images here.
Storm surge also set records for the highest water levels ever observed in multiple locations, such as Fort Myers and Naples.
Radar estimates suggest well over 12 inches of rain fell in just 12 to 24 hours in a wide swath from Port Charlotte to Orlando. In some of the hardest-hit locations, Hurricane Ian produced 1-in-1,000-year rainfall, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Authorities in South Carolina began cataloging damage on Pawleys Island, a coastal town roughly 70 miles north of Charleston. The biggest concern there, according to the mayor, is how to remove debris so the island can be safe again.
“It was a Category 1 hurricane, but we experienced tremendous storm surge today, probably beyond what most people anticipated,” Mayor Brian Henry told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday.
Recovery: As residents go back to homes that in some cases have been splintered or flooded out due to the storm, hundreds of rescues have taken place as federal, state and local crews work to help recovery efforts.
The US Coast Guard has rescued more than 275 people in Florida, according to Rear Adm. Brendan McPherson, and hundreds of additional rescues were being performed by teams from FEMA and local and state agencies. But post-storm conditions remain a huge challenge, he told CNN on Friday.
In a speech Friday at the White House, President Biden said it could take years for some places to rebuild. “We’re just beginning to see the scale of that destruction,” he said.
Sarasota County Sheriff’s deputies and Sarasota County Fire personnel went door-to-door Saturday morning advising residents in the Hidden River community, a private airpark community located 15 miles east of Sarasota, of potential flooding due to a possible levee break, according to a release from the sheriff’s office.
A countywide notification was issued to residents just before 3 a.m. ET, indicating the compromise of the levee, which the sheriff’s office said will only impact homes on the east side of the Hidden River community. Residents there are encouraged to consider evacuation.
According to the sheriff’s office, the levee compromise should not impact any other areas in Sarasota County, including Venice or North Port.
“This is a localized area, and the entire county is not under a flood threat from this situation,” the National Weather Service said in a press release Saturday morning.
CNN’s Mike Saenz contributed to this report.
