i m boris sanchez coming to you live from hard-hit fort myers, florida, where cleanup is under way where hurricane ian took aim. boris, good morning, i m amara walker, thank you for starting your morning with us. what is left of hurricane ian is moving north this morning after leaving half the destruction across florida and now the carolinas. and after making landfall as a category 1 hurricane in that region, it s now moving inland as a post-tropical cyclone. and even though it s been downgraded officials warn it still trains that area with heavy rain and flood. yeah, in south carolina, the storm flooded homes and vehicles along the shorelines. and as high winds purged with storm surge higher, two pier, one in pawleys island, and this one in north myrtle beach partially collapsed and just washed away. ian is blamed for at least 45 deaths. the severe category 4 hurricane wednesday packing sustained winds of 150 miles per hour. the coast guard said it has rescued more tha
a bit as we roll into the latter part of our weekend. we talked about the strong winds, many under advisories highlighted in orange. that extends through ted, over 2 million dealing with wind gusts over 35 miles per hour, amara. britley ritz, appreciate it, thanks. as dawn rises here in southwest florida, neighbors are confronting some difficult questions including when can we go home. and once we return, what might be left of home? it s too soon to tell exactly how long this recovery is going to take and how much it s going to cost. hurricane ian pummeled florida leaving a stunning scale of wreckage. just a devastating trail all the way from southwest florida, fort myers beach, sanibel island, naples, all through orlando which got heavily flooded. and surprised those who have survived other powerful hurricanes. many who have been able to return to their neighborhoods
across the state, 1.3 million homes still in the dark this morning. and for many able to evacuate, they are unsure of what they re going to return to. my grandparents are still at the house. we have animals there. they didn t want to leave the animals. whether we left on the boat, it was a scary feeling you don t know if you re ever going to see them again, your animals again. life is shooken up, you just never know what you re going to come back to. and we re hearing more of these harrowing accounts, as folks start to pick up after the damage to hurricane ian. we ll get to those stories in just a moment. but we want to update you on what we re dealing with right now. beginning with the coverage, cnn s meteorologist britney reitz is monitoring the north. but miguel marquez is live in
furniture, toys on the ground, just debris flung through this entire park. and it s not just fort myers that s suffering. look at this head line from the tampa bay times. it really says it all florida brought to its knees. the damage expansive from fort myers beach, naples, even hours away with flooding in orlando. amara, while there are aerial photographs of the devastation that hurricane ian left behind that give us one view. an up close look reveals details of homes, details of lives torn apart by ian. all of the personal things that were lost as well. cnn s correspondent bill weir talking us through a walk-through, one neighborhood turned upinside down by ian. reporter: these are shore birds and pelicans, walking across wreckage in what used to be san carlos harbor. it s seen better days, as you
after hurricane ian. in the wake of the storm s destructive path, more than 1.3 million homes and businesses in florida remain without electricity. about 75% of those outages are in lee county which includes where we are in fort myers and nearby cape coral. at the front of the effort to restore electricity is florida power and light. their spokesman, dave reuter joins us live. dave, thank you for sharing part of your weekend with us. i know it s a very busy time. as our crew was driving into fort myers last night, there were countless utility trucks headed towards this area. it made up the majority of the traffic as we were getting here. so, we know that you guys are working hard to get folks back online. how long do you expect it s going to take to get the lights back on in places like fort myers? good morning, boris. yes, you know, we are making