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
be there. that s my commitment to. neil: here s the thing. ian is not leaving. it s down but not out. ian now a tropical storm is expected to make its way back to a category one hurricane after devastating the sunshine state. south carolina s governor will hold a news conference shortly. here s what we know right now. a storm surge up to seven feet predicted for charleston, south carolina as of tomorrow. in florida today, more than 2.6 million people are still without power across the state. no indications when they will get that back. search and rescue operations underway in florida s barrier islands and other hard-hit areas. governor desantis calling it a 24/7 operation. moments from now, we ll talk to the mayor of fort myers florida particularly hard hit by the storm. first, fox team coverage with robert ray in fort myers and steve harrigan in charlotte county where they re trying to dig out. welcome. i m neil cavuto. let s go to robert ray in f fort myers that got reall
the devastation in very direct terms. the impacts of this storm are historic and the damage that was done has been historic and this is just off initial assessments. take a look at fort myers, close to where ian made landfall. you see the downed trees and the boats tossed around like toys. storm surges as high as 7 to 10 feet swept through surrounding areas making streets look more like oceans. ian has left more than 2.5 million floridians without power. folks who were in shelters are leaving to see if they even have a home to return to. the focus is now on the people who did not evacuate. finding a lot of the roads are impassable. we have a lot of power lines down, a lot of flooding going on. i don t want to speculate on fatalities, but we have had some reports being called into us in reference to potential bodies being found. right now the storm is moving eastward through florida with the carolinas and georgia in its sights with flash flooding a major concern. you c
strong winds and heavy rain are battering the orlando area as the storm moves its way toward the atlantic ocean. the storm created catastrophic flooding that left entire communities under several feet of water and sent cars and debris floating down streets. take a look at these images. the water was just relentless. crews are still carrying out emergency rescues on land, air and sea. in bonita springs, a group of good samaritans rescued an elderly man stranded in his car in surging flood waters, dragging him through waist-high water to safety. ian s strong winds brought down trees, power lines, knocked out power to more than two and a half million homes and businesses. the winds also literally ripped off roofs from a number of homes, including this mobile home. a short time ago, governor ron desantis call canned the impact historic ask also addressed comments from the lee county sheriff that there may be hundreds of fatalities, something that s not been confirmed. we have h
the governor talked about how impressed he was. these are dangerous missions. i m grateful for the brave women and men in 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. many are hurting today. and our entire country hurts with them. because it s been all over the country we have seen so many crises. but in florida today, it s 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 community centers. they are wondering what s going on left. what s going to be left when they get to go home. or even if they have a home to go to. some of the folks have been through this before. but that doesn t make it any easier. it makes their anxiety even higher, in my view. my message to people of florida, ti