it was so bad that this man had to wade through knee-deep water inside of his own home. in florida the storm damage issine worse. 45 people have died and hundreds of homes are destroyed. a woman struggling to survive was captured in a harrowing phone call. in am in water. okay. i am so cold. i am losing you and i can t hear you. i love you. i love you. well, thankfully that woman was rescued along with others in the state along with 600 patients evacuated from health care facilities. more help is on the way. i have directed that every possible action be taken to save live and get survivors. every minute counts. this is not just for florida. it is an american crisis. my message to people in south carolina is simple. listen to the warning and follow the officials instructions. authorities are concerned about the barrier islands near fort meyers which took the brunt of the hurricane. many residents chose not to evacuate and are now cut off from the mainland. the
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
feet high, could plunge into the neighborhood. it s just one of the many gulf coast communities still suffering from catastrophic flooding. it s been quite an operation. some of our major thoroughfares have become impassable even as the water recedes, there s washouts. so we have a long, long recovery period. all of this following hurricane ian s destructiv ive h across florida. it slammed into the gulf coast as a category 4 hurricane. entire towns leveled. florida governor ron desantis is expected to give an update on the situation later on in this hour. we ll take that for you live. let s send it down to boris sanchez with our coverage from ft. myers, florida. boris? fred, you just broke the news that we have been dreading all day. initially, when we got up this morning, officials had told us that the death toll from hurricane ian was hanging at around 45 fatalities, and you just broke the news, 64 people killed by hurricane ian here in the state of florida and potent
a 16-year-old girl. roslyn joins me to talk about what happens next. good evening and welcome to the show. war crimes, that s what russia seems to still be carrying out in its war against ukraine. early today, russian forces bombarded the ukrainian city of zaporizhzhia, killing at least 17 people and wounding thousands of others. the shelling was concentrated on a number of apartment complexes in one of zaporizhzhia s most densely populated residential areas. another he instance of vladimir putin s invading army violating the laws of war. ostensibly, it served as a particularly on the battlefield against russia and we recent weeks. perhaps, the most noteworthy of which occurred yesterday, when ukrainians destroyed a massive bridge linking russia with the crimean peninsula, a critical supply route for the kremlin s forces, as you might imagine, a thin skinned putin has not taken these defeats well. on the contrary, he has renewed his nuclear saber rattling, unnerving weste
of ian s destruction in florida is still being revealed. we re seeing horrifying new images of wiped out communities, as rescue operations continue and the death toll rises. also tonight, vladimir putin vows victory will be ours. that s what he says and throws a red square celebration after annexing one fifth of ukraine. the u.s. and its allies are condemning the land grab as illegal and president biden is warning putin won t get away with what he calls this dangerous escalation of the war. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. this is cnn breaking news. we re following the breaking news right now in south carolina, ian s newest target, after its catastrophic onslaught in florida. cnn correspondents are on the scene in both states, covering this disaster. and our weather center is tracking ian s path right now. first, let s go to cnn s miguel marquez in pauley s island in south carolina