The death toll was at least 12, according to police departments, but was expected to rise, with President Joe Biden fearing Ian “could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida’s history.”
Families took to social media and called police for help finding their loved ones, as rescuers continued searching for the missing. And thousands were displaced from their homes.
Early Thursday morning, once the winds subsided, search-and-rescue teams, firefighters, police officers and public-works crews fanned out into Southwest Florida. Air crews from U.S. Coast Guard and National Guard helicopters scoured neighborhoods, in particular on the cut-off barrier islands, looking for trapped survivors and making “dozens of rescues” before the sun rose on Thursday, according to the governor’s office.
Even though many roads are open in Southwest Florida, officials urged people to refrain from sightseeing. In downtown Fort Myers on the mainland, boats that had been docked in the river sat in a jumble in the parking lot of Joe’s Crab Shack. Their turbulent journey ripped open hulls, snapped masts, severed engines. Scattered on the ground or hung up in the branches of fallen trees were rudders, anchors, railings, sails and seat cushions.At the Tamiami Village mobile home park, daylight revealed that the storm shredded car ports, porches and in a few cases, front rooms of the homes.
In downtown Orlando, some streets remained flooded early Thursday afternoon, with garbage and debris strewn about and traffic lights out. Lake Eola, a popular attraction, completely overflowed its banks as the storm moved through. A neighborhood dog park was also underwater.
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