we cover the devastation caused by hurricane ian. here is the newest information coming in this saturday evening. the storm s death toll in florida now stands at 66. this is the scene in north port, which is in sarasota county. state officials say the latest known death is that of a 62-year-old woman also from that county. she apparently drowned after getting trapped in her vehicle. take a look at the massive amount of water people risked traveling through today east of sarasota. they re in their car. this is a car, not a boat, makes its way down a very flooded state highway. sheriff s deputies and firefighters went door to door in the community of hidden river warning people about a potentially levee beach. on cape coral, they are checking on victims who may need urgent help. fire rescue say they have been collecting people and pets and taking them to a fire station where helicopters are ferrying people to safety. this afternoon, governor ron desantis said while more than ha
mid-atlantic states. after leaving florida, ian did make landfall earlier today near myrtle beach, south carolina, as a category one hurricane. it heavily flooded a local street. do you see this? this was a scene a few miles south and nearby pawleys island. the streets are turning into rivers look at this. the power of the storm surge as the hurricane was churning, the atlantic ocean, it sliced a peer into. as ian news northward tonight, a tornado watches now in effect for parts of the carolinas and virginia for at least one more hour until 10 pm eastern. meanwhile, back in florida, the extent of the destruction, well, it s staggering. this, that we re looking at, that is aerial video of fort myers beach. much of the committee has simply been totally obliterated. the result of a hurricane smashing into that part of florida as a massive category four storm. last night, the sheriff s office in lee county what you campuses the fort myers area, is releasing this new video, showin
the winds are gusting at 85 miles per hour, and the other big concerns are life-threatening storm surge and heavy rain. we are tracking who is in the most danger. all of this as millions of people in florida are taking those first painful steps towards recovery. so many lives are upended by hurricane ian s devastation, and the storm is likely one for the record books as the grim evidence of the powerful strike now litters coastlines. today, fort myers beach impassable. shells of buildings is all that is left. boats are tossed like toys as well as homes at this point, we know that 25 people have died in florida. roughly 2 million without power, and staggering level of destruction and damage estimates are climbing fast. we have teams covering it all, and we begin in south carolina where ian is bearing down and our nick valencia is in myrtle beach. what are you seeing there, nick? well, ana, we are getting a break in the rain, and wred not expecting it to last, but the residen
Power now. The winds are extremely high. And water is rising. Just clinging to i dont know what that is. Theyre flying around the streets. A cinder block wall that was the entire width of this area came down. Theyre coming through. We had some of the strongest winds here so far. Good to be with you this morning. Im francis rivera. And im philip mena. It is 4 30 in the east. Thank you for joining us for this Special Edition of early today. The strong winds of ian already impacting Daytona Beach along the western coast as it slowly moves towards orlando. The storm has been downgraded to a category one. It is still packing a powerful punch. There are nearly 2 1 2 million power outage as cross the state. Ian made land fall in Southwest Florida in the ft. Myers area where the storm surge submerged buildings. It could take days or weeks to know the full impact. The County Manager tells nbc news overnight they are getting a sense that the community has been decimated. And in port charlotte, n
power now. the winds are extremely high. and water is rising. just clinging to i don t know what that is. they re flying around the streets. a cinder block wall that was the entire width of this area came down. they re coming through. we had some of the strongest winds here so far. good to be with you this morning. i m francis rivera. and i m philip mena. it is 4:30 in the east. thank you for joining us for this special edition of early today. the strong winds of ian already impacting daytona beach along the western coast as it slowly moves towards orlando. the storm has been downgraded to a category one. it is still packing a powerful punch. there are nearly 2 1/2 million power outage as cross the state. ian made land fall in southwest florida in the ft. myers area where the storm surge submerged buildings. it could take days or weeks to know the full impact. the county manager tells nbc news overnight they are getting a sense that the community has been decima