that number could rise even higher as search and rescue crews work to reach cutoff areas, removing debris from destroyed homes and businesses along florida s southwest coastline and we re learning that miami-dade fire rescue crews are conducting helicopter evacuations on sanibel island. boris sanchez is there in fort myers, florida. boris, you just spoke with the lee county sheriff a few moments ago. what was said? reporter: fred, there have been a lot of questions today about the timing of when lee county ordered evacuations. we re in lee county right now in fort myers. what we ve learned is lee county ordered its first evacuations more than a day after forecasts met the county s criteria despite the fact the county has an emergency plan that suggests evacuations should have happened earlier. the county s comprehensive emergency ma or more of water would indicate the need for hurricane evacuations in the most vulnerable areas. a lot of lee county is a vulnerable area. one
ripped through the state as a powerful category 4 storm. almost a category 5. the highest, most powerful kind of you hurricane there is. sheriffs deputies in sarasota county are going door-to-door right now in the hidden river community warning neighbors about the potential for flooding because of a possible levee break. days after the storm, the effects still being felt across the sunshine state. meantime, more than 1.2 million floridians are without power. officials say it s unclear when electricity will be restored to the hardest hit areas in the western part of florida. ian is being blamed not only for the loss of property that you are seeing on your screen, but also as least 45 fatalities. that number likely to grow as rescue crews gain access to areas that have been blocked by damage. the coast guard says it has rescued more than 200 people so far and volunteers have gone out to save even more. the cajun navy, a volunteer group, came to the rescue of a woman in fort m
hello again, everyone. thank you for joining me. i m fredricka whitfield. we begin with a new update on the devastating toll hurricane ian has taken on florida. at least 64 people were killed across the state. as recovery efforts continue, the number is expected to rise. governor ron desantis at this hour giving a briefing on the storm response and recovery. hurricane ian slamming into florida as a category 4 storm, leveling entire communities. and today severe flooding is complicating rescue and recovery efforts. let s go back to boris sanchez anchoring from ft. myers, florida, for us. reporter: hey, fred. as you reported just a moment ago, the tragic news that the death toll has again climbed earlier today. it was sitting at 45 fatalities. now cnn has confirmed from state officials that it has reached 64 people killed as a result of hurricane ian. and those devastating, nearly category 5, storm force winds. obviously, this is a difficult time for so many across the stat
a crisis with no ordinary solution because this was no ordinary storm. look at the staggering scale of destruction. complicating hundreds of rescue efforts. it laid waste to entire towns, robbing people of their homes and livelihoods. some residents are now beginning to pick up the pieces. others have no pieces left to pick up. i just returned from a boat ride with the cageous navy where i saw some of the destruction for myself. this is what ian did to matt lachey in lee county where most of the deaths occurred so far. in matlacha. they find one of your neighbors? yeah. yeah. they found, like, i think three bodies so far in the water. i know there s more. cnn s nadia romero is in arcadia. we begin with brian todd in naples. officials said it could take months to recover. we have seen evidence all day long from our boat ride to where you are right now. where do things stand today where you are? jim, we re going to show you more evidence of why it s going to take so lon
unrecognizable landmarks. and it also store up ft. myers beach. we went on a boat ride with the cajun navy and other volunteer rescuers across the area. and matt lachey in the coastal area is where most of the deaths occurred. what is going on over here? a lot of restaurants, into the lot of homes. pretty much all restaurants. theme that do shrimping, fishing. there was buildings the whole way. and they are just gone. you heard their stories that there are bodies in some of the canals and stuff? yeah, like up to the second story window, the water was still going. and that is the road right there. yeah. and it is gone. yeah. this area is pretty typical of the destruction around here. there is a bridge intact just about a block from here. maybe a quarter of a mile, nothing more than that, but the road leading to that bridge is completely washed out. so the island that is on the other side of that bridge is cut off right now. the people texted me hey, your ho