of the florida coast of that this is sanibel island, an island decimated by hurricane ian. right now there s no way to get help in to sanibel. the only bridge that connected the island to the mainland, it s a long causeway, it s caved in. so there s no way to get on or off the island unless you travel by boat. and that s been incredibly difficult for anyone to do. and that loss right now spans the florida coast. i ll show you cape coral. our bill weir was here today. this is a picture he took. you can see home after home totally destroyed and flooded. the ones that are still standing, you can see siding ripped off. at one point ian s winds were 155 miles an hour. we re going to have much more from bill weir in a moment. not far from where he took those images, ft. myers beach, striking images of what is left. not much. the beach community 48 hours ago looked like that. now, take a look at this. estero boulevard, 24 hours later. a restaurant called the whale surrounded by debr
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
begin to assess just how many lives have been lost. the high waters, homes, buildings and roads ripped apart, ongoing search and rescue missions, and the damage is not just along the coast. welcome to the lead, i m jake tapper. we start with the first look at the death and devastation left behind by hurricane ian across southwest and central florida. this same system first made landfall in cuba then onto florida s west coast. now ian is about to strengthen and make its third landfall. let s show you what ian has done already. this is fort myers beach this morning. chunks of metal and trees thrown across the streets, buildings ripped apart, cars destroyed a. resident who has lived there his entire life said this is the worst hurricane he s lived through. bear islands have been cut off near ft. myers. all the bridges have failed and massive sections of the sanibel causeway were washed away by the storm surge, severing the only connection they have to the florida mainland. s