community near sarasota, a possible levee breech could push a 15-foot wall of water into the neighborhood. sarasota is just one of the many gulf coast communities still dealing with severe flooding. hurricane ian slamming southwest florida as a category 4 storm. the death toll now stands at 45. but that number could rise as crews reach areas that have been cut off because of the flooding. right now, the remnants of ian moving over the mid-atlantic states following friday s direct hit on the south carolina coast as a category 1 hurricane. now down to boris in hard-hit ft. myers. boris? reporter: fred, neighbors here are stunned at just is raw power of mother nature. i m not sure how well you can see it behind me, but there are several vessels, five what appear to be commercial fishing charter sized vessels that were lifted from when they were here in this marina in ft. myers and tossed onto the outside part of that bridge, just thrown around like debris, one of many scenes
hello again, everyone. thank you for joining me. i m fredricka whitfield. we begin with a new update on the devastating toll hurricane ian has taken on florida. at least 64 people were killed across the state. as recovery efforts continue, the number is expected to rise. governor ron desantis at this hour giving a briefing on the storm response and recovery. hurricane ian slamming into florida as a category 4 storm, leveling entire communities. and today severe flooding is complicating rescue and recovery efforts. let s go back to boris sanchez anchoring from ft. myers, florida, for us. reporter: hey, fred. as you reported just a moment ago, the tragic news that the death toll has again climbed earlier today. it was sitting at 45 fatalities. now cnn has confirmed from state officials that it has reached 64 people killed as a result of hurricane ian. and those devastating, nearly category 5, storm force winds. obviously, this is a difficult time for so many across the stat
a crisis with no ordinary solution because this was no ordinary storm. look at the staggering scale of destruction. complicating hundreds of rescue efforts. it laid waste to entire towns, robbing people of their homes and livelihoods. some residents are now beginning to pick up the pieces. others have no pieces left to pick up. i just returned from a boat ride with the cageous navy where i saw some of the destruction for myself. this is what ian did to matt lachey in lee county where most of the deaths occurred so far. in matlacha. they find one of your neighbors? yeah. yeah. they found, like, i think three bodies so far in the water. i know there s more. cnn s nadia romero is in arcadia. we begin with brian todd in naples. officials said it could take months to recover. we have seen evidence all day long from our boat ride to where you are right now. where do things stand today where you are? jim, we re going to show you more evidence of why it s going to take so lon
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.
officials in florida now say at least 66 people are confirmed dead, more than half the fatalities are here amid the widespread devastation in lee county, home to fort myers. the sheriff there says there have been more than 600 rescues in that county alone. near sarasota police officers evacuated a neighborhood early this morning as a levee appeared in danger of collapsing. that threat, a 15-foot wall of water crashing into the neighborhood. just a short time ago the state reopened a 12-mile stretch of interstate 75 in both directions bet an over flowing river has forced a closure there. governor desantis said overflowing lakes and rivers have also created havoc. there s also other areas where we may expect additional flooding. i was touring central florida with some of the aerial tours. there was more standing water in central florida than there was in southwest florida from the imp immuno impact of the storm serurge. i want to bring in jim acosta in fort myers, one of th