coverage of hurricane ian. still very much a hurricane. still extremely dangerous bearing down on orlando this mor morning at this moment. we will go there. there are so many different stories to this devastating storm. one of the most powerful ever to hit florida with winds of 140 miles per hour on landfall. at this point, 20 inches of rain have been measured in so many different locations including here in tampa. you can see some of the limited damages even here in tampa. that appears to be roofing or some kind of siding just torn off of the building. that s just part of the story. the real story is south of here, venice, port charlotte. fort myers. i m hearing a helicopter above me. which is a good sign. maybe they re leaving from here to go help people in need further south and there is so much need. enormous storm surge. 12 feet in some places. just swamped. familiar cities, naples, fort myers. you can see rivers just floating down the middle of the street. as i said, th
yeah, that s right, look, as you mentioned it s weakened now to a tropical storm, but weakened or not, ian is still one for the record books cutting this brutal path across florida s west coast. as much as 20 inches of rain fell in some areas. this morning, there s 14 million people under flood alerts. more than 2 million homes and businesses are without power across florida. and that intense flooding that berman mentioned there in places like fort myers and naples, here you re seeing pictures of those areas, it s leaving people who decided to ride out the storm just trapped in their homes. berman. yeah, the sun will come up soon. cnn has live team coverage up and down the coast. up into orlando, where the storm has yet to hit. our first report is from our randi kaye in punta gorda, florida, rand di, i am so happy to see you well this morning. thank you, john. good to see you as well. we got up early, we re trying to make our way to fort myers, which we know was so hard
and they ll have to be rebuilt. unfortunately, there are also homes and businesses that will simply not be able to safely take the power once it s ready. but the 20,000 plus men and women who are already here are staging and getting on the field currently. they will work 24/7 until we get the lights back on. again, as the governor said, not our first rodeo, but every storm is also different and always poses different challenges. but appreciate all the support from the state. governor, thank you. from local law enforcement as well, national guard. this is a team sport and a team effort, and we re going to all work together until we get florida back up on her feet and where we all want her to be. thank you. when fdl and the other companies have crews in, the extent to which that infrastructure has remained is just critical because, you know, it s a lot easier for them to reconnect an existing system than to have to rebuild it. to see that was able to withstand is encouraging.
coast guard deployed 16 rescue helicopters, six fixed wing aircraft and 18 rescue boats and crews. that s just one element of the many federal search and rescue teams staged in florida and the governor talked about how impressed he was with what the coast guard is going this morning. these are dangerous missions and i m grateful for the brave women and men, federal, state and local governments working as one team, risking their lives to save others. and we re going to learn a lot more in the coming hours. but we know many families are hurting, many are hurting today, and our entire country hurts with them, because all over the country we ve seen so many crises, but in florida today is the epicenter. we re continuing to see deadly rainfall, catastrophic storm surges, roads and homes flooded. we re seeing millions of people without power and thousands hunkered down in schools and commune centers. they re wondering what s going to be left when they get to go home, quote, unquote
it s the top of the hour on cnn newsroom. i m alisyn camerota in new york. hurricane ian has killed at least 13 people. it s the strongest storm to hit the west coast of florida in nearly 20 years. local officials say we should brace for that number of victims to rise. the life and death danger from ian continues as it pushes northeast, still pummelling florida. rescuers were pulling people from high water all day and night. survivors describe no time to wait as people had to carry children, as you can see, through chest-high waters. ian made landfall just west of cape coral. our cnn drone shows the devastation there. i mean obviously you can just see these are supposed to be streets, but they are completely flooded. nearby ft. myers and naples further south are both decimated. countless neighborhoods are still submerged in the floodwaters at this hour. the communities of sanibel and pine island are now cut off from the mainland after ian washed away parts of this causewa