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
essentially ready-to-eat meals being handed out to residents who are filing into line. we learned this morning that officials have actually adjusted the overnight curfew. the original curfew was set on wednesday and it was set to expire after 48 hours. the curfew is now set from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. until further notice. they are asking people to stay out of the hardest hit areas and they shouldn t go out into the street past 9:00 p.m. only on official business or in the case of an energy, just to make things easier for the crews. we take a look at the headline from the tampa bay times that says it all. florida brought to its knees. of course, as far south as fort myers beach to sanibel, naples, orlando, all of florida has been devastated. and among the hardest hit areas by hurricane ian, lee county has borne the brunt of this storm. there is aerial footage that
lee county. last we heard there were 16 as we look at before and after photographs of that area in sanibel. clearly, the second photograph just entire buildings, communities raised from the ground. do you have an update on the number of fatalities? no, they come out every night. we coordinate with the department of health. they go through the process to ensure what we have and what was the reason for it as we go through the autopsies. that s published every day. the number you have is yesterday. you know, sir, i m a native floridian. i know how people react to these storms, and often when folks see even a category 3 storm they often shrug. this one within a matter of hours went from a category 3 to nearly a category 5. do you feel that folks in this area were prepared? especially as the storm shifted
power, and, obviously, wifi. so the challenges, obviously, and thank god we as local people were able to deal with reasonable people, state, federal, it s all hands on deck. it s where the united states should be. we are coming together as one. we have been able to coordinate with the coast guard, with the military, appropriate helicopters over there. we created a barge service to bring stuff over there, obviously, bring people back, a ferry service. we have been coordinating on the barrier islands. my district is captiva, sanibel, southwest cape, pine island, boca grande. so many, many communities have disruptions. sanibel, okbviously, is one of the more destructive. fort myers beach is worse, if that s possible. could you give us an update on the death toll? because we understand there may be new numbers coming in out of
obviously, the devastation i can t put into words. buildings, houses, commercial establishments completely gone. many breaches in the bridge. i governed there for 14 careers years, was mayor for 11, i know people on a first name basis. we are doing everything we can, exce search and rescue. it s an emotional roller coaster to say the least. and, kevin, what are some of the biggest challenges that crews are facing right now to access these areas, because we know certain bridges have been washed away, some areas are hard to access, there are all kinds of dangers that get in the way of the search and rescue operations. if you could walk us through the challenges that rescue crews are facing, our viewers could get a better picture of the challenges this morning. let me start from the top. infrastructure-wise, what s damaged, roads, sewer, water,