hurricane ian. 65 people here in florida did not survive the storm. search and rescue efforts in many areas are ongoing. 2 million people in multiple states are without power. the sunshine here revealing more and more damage, hour-by-hour. the hurricane and storm surge laid waste to entire towns, including ft. myers beach, robbing people of homes and livelihoods. rescue efforts will take months and years for some of the areas to get back to normal. i tell you for myself, i spent much of the day out there. that is the case. it will take many months and weeks to get back to normal. south of here, naples, florida, officials say it will take months or longer to recover. prosecute damage could top $2 million. the fire chief says the city is having challenges with restoring power. brian todd is in naples for us. brian, i know you ve been doing this hour after hour. every corner you turn, every street you go down, you re seeing more and more devastation. tell us what you re seeing.
Onshore this way, wolf. The storm will track up here. Flooding here, wind damage here and here and then flooding from this side, too. So because were going to move it right up and its as big as the state, if not wider, with Hurricane Force winds, everyone will see damage. I dont think there will be any True Community that doesnt lose shingles maybe a window. Be very careful when tried to get in or out of your house if you are staying, because when the wind blows those doors slam shut. And let me tell you, ive seen it. And peoples fingers get caught in the doors. Wind howling through it. You dont expect it, bam, in trouble. Try to go to the hospital and the winds blowing 100. Please, please, be careful here and have some cash. Today is the day to get cash. When the wind blows, power lines go down, and also the le electricity down, credit cards dont work. When you need something, you need cash. The storm comes around 2 00 tomorrow afternoon. Miami finally see 50 mileperhour wind gusts. B
recovery. not designed to make them whole. but it is the initial assistance they need. as they look at what long-term recovery looks at and other assistance may be needed for long-term recovery. all right. former fema administrator, fred fugate, thanks for the expertise. we appreciate it. thanks for having me. coming up, vladimir putin s brazen move, signs a decree annexing four parts of ukraine. the largest land grab b in euro since world war ii. we re following the desperate situation here in southwest florida. you can t take your eyes off of the unfolding situation in ukraine. we ll talk about that next. i ll pick this one up. i earn 3% cash back on dining including takeout with chase freedom unlimited. so, it s not a problem at all. you guys aren t gonna give me the fake bill fight? c mon, kev. you re earning 3% cash back.
if you re going to leave your home, you need to get going now, because as this gets closer it s going to get harder to get where you want to go. and i care about the whole state. i love them, but we can t put first responders in harm s way to save you. so take care of your family. we all love our families and don t want to lose one family member, so do it now. take your action now. don t wait. we just spoke to fred fugate, former fema administrate here was rather blunt. if people ignore these evacuation orders from you and from other authorities, they potentially could die as a result of the storm surge. is that the biggest fear you have? i m worried that people won t all evacuate. feel this is the same as before. let s put it in perspective. this is much bigger than andrew and we have storm risk we didn t have with andrew. surge between three and ten
compare the new fema director brock lane with michael brown, who was the arabian horse race expert that w put in there. you know mike brown wasn t appropriate for that particular office, but since then, through david paulson and of course fred fugate and barack and a whole bunch of other people, fema and the state go saps have done a much better job of being prepared. i seen barack with our governor, the bottom line is there can t be politics in storm recovery or storm response. our guys are professional now. we are all in communication. it matters, it is a matter of life safety. it requires citizens to assist as well. we are hoping, in texas and louisiana we are preparing for whatever might come out of that. after two or three days, we don t know what will happen. the best this inc. to do is to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best in you know,