we are carrying out search and rescues across the state. there have been at least 700 rescues confirmed as of thursday. first responders are doing targeted searches. going home by home, checking to see if people are okay. there will be many more rescues that are added. the absolutely expect to have from the surrogate. so far, at least 19 people are confirmed dead. there was a significant number of people that remained on the island during the catastrophic weather event. right now, it is important for us to go ahead and say, are you okay? it will take a few days to get to all of the places that have reports continue to to get them coming in. the scope of the overall destruction is coming in. areas cut off by rubble. look at this mess. we met they were left without power in central florida. falling debris, tornadoes, life-threatening storm surge. in some cases, we need to rebuild rather than simply repair. reporter: cruz look to restore power. floodwaters contin
lost everything lost night. i ve been in the house since 1987. pictures and memories. just gone. and there was a front door and it was a surge and it took me to the middle of the yard and i fought to get back into the porch. i would have gotten me and my family ahead of time. and where do you start? that is a question so many people are asking right now. in just minutes, president biden is going to be giving an update on the federal response to this dafter. we ll bring you the remarks live. before that, let s get to chad myers with where the storm is heading now. what are you seeing. a third landfall, including cubia. two in the u.s. this is an 85 mile per hour storm still. it is between myrtle beach and charleston. that is the area that will see the greatest amount of surge moving into the estuaries. it is called low country for a reason. these are very low marshes through across parts of south carolina. and we re seeing that spin on the radar, not that far fro
in fort myers beach, it is even hard to bike through the destruction. the messages from residents there, if you can send help, we need it. sanibel and cap teva islands cut off from the main land, only accessible by boat or air after, as you know, ian destroyed this major bridge that connects them to the main land. many of the homes there are in pieces or completely washed away. the coast guard is now going door to door, still trying to rescue people. make sure you have a bag for your clothes, with i.d., cell phones, wallets. emergency officials will run barges to sanibel island to help with cleanup and recovery efforts there. but let s begin in south carolina, cnn s nick valencia is in myrtle beach. tell us what is happening around you right now. reporter: it is a little hard to hear because the wind is such a major factor, just in the last few minutes these gusts of wind have crept up to about 40 to 50 miles per hour. and, you know, the sustained wind is almost as bad. f
got, less than a thousand power outages, but also just be prepared in case something turns or something happens this afternoon. ainsley: down in florida, desperate search and rescue efforts are underway this morning. at least ten are confirmed dead. but officials warn that number will likely be higher. the damage i saw was on fort myers beach. but they have been more than 700 confirmed rescues and is likely many more than that. ainsley: florida s governor will give a press conference, at 8:45 a.m., with an update on ian. we ll bring you that life. you will see some before-and-after shadows showing the intent of the damage fort myers. a crew is being sent down to prevent all the looting. can you believe that people would actually steal from other people when they are out of state? brian: more than 2 million people across florida still have no power. we have team coverage this morning. fox weather correspondent robert ray is live in fort myers with a look at the damage.
this is don lemon tonight, you re watching our coverage of in, making its way up the florida peninsula. we have all the news coverage this evening, it is dumping rain on this entire area. lots of water. but also the wind, pushing the wind all across the state of florida. our crews are out in the field, we re covering it all for you. we ve got bill weir, bill is joining us from punta gorda florida, also brian todd is in is in derek van damme is in breaking tin for us. i want to other meteorologist, our expert, mr. tom seders in the weather center. tom, i am getting so much rain, lots of rain that have been dumped on me for the last hour. and it seemed to come in on cue, we re watching the radar, the rain came right in. it s just sitting on top of us, not going anywhere. in fact that northern periphery of the storm system in the last couple of model runs in the last couple of days really has been showing that that northern periphery is where we re gonna have that heavy rain