county, which took a direct hit from hurricane ian, has been a boom town. this is the housing density in and around lee county around 1970. back then the county was home to just 100,000 people, and as of the latest sentenced sentences more than 760,000 people live. they re there even similar boone s up and down the coast, up and down south florida where. this means is that when hurricane luckier make landfall, the question isn t if they were hit the population center, the question is which one they will hit. but even still, where hurricane ian hit was particularly bad. last year the epicenter of the damage brought by the storm was the ninth fastest growing county in the united states. joining us now from fort myers beach florida the shoreline of the county, is carey ruston, correspondent for the nbc s the news, with chef smith. thanks again for joining us these evening. i know you have spent a few days now in some of the hardest
that includes bringing incurs, a lot people have talked about seeing crews staged all over the state of florida but, where we are right now is having completed the damage assessment, which is a really critical part of what we have to do because it tells us how to deploy our resources efficiently and effectively, and, at the same time we are still able to restore, we are in full blown restoration process, now, but, for example we may have to bring injury crews to remove vegetation, that is blocking polls, downed wires, we have to get that out of the way but what we can get crews and their to start putting those polls back in the ground, and why are back in the air. tell me about the relationship between say water flooding and electricity generation and distribution. we have seen part of our service area that have
an operating marina. they were really dedicated to it, it is like a family and their business. and so, that is why they are here now, cleanup and start over. we are going to keep on watching what you are doing, thank you for taking time talk to us. thank you, gets us out a little bit because we are hearing about a lot of damage down here. we look at this, thank you, guys. this is his place, they are cleaning it up, all across florida they are cleaning up and getting going. a lot of people still need help, who still have not seen the hope. they need authorities, money, desperate for shelter, and water, and clean food. hopefully as the word gets out they will start to get it. i will leave it there for, now i will see you again. it is up next.
yasmin vossoughian. at this hour, we are continuing to track again and the destruction left in its wake and we are now learning as well the death toll from the storm continuing to rise. now standing at 54 people. in fact we ve lost a last from the storm. so progress is being made, though getting the power back on. at this hour more than 1.2 million americans are still without power in florida, the carolinas and virginia. we are continuing to get visuals. shocking visuals really including these heartbreaking and before and after images. side by side on your screen. demonstrating the sheer destruction in fort myers beach florida. all coming as florida state officials announced an additional five rescue teams have been the played so far today. bringing the total number to 16. we continue to hear from victims about what they have been through. i lost everything that i own
will be okay, that they will know that they have not been forgotten in their time of need. beyond that, if folks would like to give behind some of the organizations that are here on the ground, that is what they need to do. the cost of everybody down here that is working is incredible. if you want to fall in realtime or ask questions, see what we are doing, our website at mercy chef.com is a great place to go. there are links there to volunteer with us, there are links there to support us financially. just don t forget the people here in florida, and our friends in puerto rico, the dominican republic, many other places that hurricanes have hit. we are working also. we are going to tweet that oh by the way, how people can support you. since being touted you have served over 22 million meals in 160 disasters, 27 states and 11 countries.