hurricane ian regained strength, now once again a hurricane barreling towards south carolina as a category 1 storm with 85 mile an hour winds expected to make its third landfall just a few hours from now. the governor of south carolina after seeing the catastrophic damage in florida imploring residents in his state not to underestimate this storm. warning, we know what is coming. officials in florida say ian is likely the largest natural disaster in the history of that state, prompting the largest emergency response ever in florida. and the toll is coming in. at least 19 people killed so far, that number sadly likely to rise. more than 2 million people in the state it s a huge number remain without power. in fort myers beach the damage described by officials there is total devastation. look at those pictures, it s like a tornado just swept through there. 90% of that island destroyed, most of the homes there completely flattened. it just is destroyed and it s ruined an
pushing heavy rain and wind into cities that are vulnerable with flooding. after the path wiped out florida s west coast leaving parts of the state swamped, draining vital resources, emergency rooms forced to turn away patients, in the state s costliest hurricane on record. plus, putin makes his land grab official, the biggest annexation and absorb in europe, as protesters here leave their mark vandalizing the russian consulate. welcome to the lead, i m jake tapper, hurricane ian making his third landfall in south carolina after previously hitting florida and cuba earlier this week. residents of south carolina are looking southward no doubt at what happened in florida with dread. in the sunshine state, clean up beginning. ian decimated parts of fort myers beach, winds whipping hotels, restaurants, it s a similar scene on sanibel island, homes, hotels, docks, destroyed, littering the beaches with debris. listen to how president biden described the destruction earlier today
into sharper focus. this picture shows fort meyers beach one of the hardest-hit areas before the hurricane and here it is after. homes wiped out. sea of debris and rubble stretching to the horizon. there is this marina during normal times in fort myers. and then after. a scene of utter destruction. the damage throughout florida. 2 million still without power. it will continue for some time. ten people are confirmed dead thus far. the number may change as search and rescue teams work their way through the flooded neighborhoods. we re moments away as dana mentioned and get an update from the florida governor ron desantis back in tallahassee. team fox coverage. city manager marty lawing is standing by. robert ray is back with us today. we begin with track of ian. adam klotz is in our studio watching that. we still have a hurricane as we remember this storm left the coast of florida as a tropical storm but we ve spent a good chunk of time over the atlantic ocean. winds curren
everywhere. i ve never seen damage like this in my whole life. it s unreal. reporter: boats tossed like toys. the lone bridge connecting the island cracked and crumbled with the storm s winds putting some sections totally under water. we had about 200 households that didn t evacuate on the island that we know of. reporter: anyone still trapped on the isolated island now waiting for rescue by boat or air. we joined the lee county sheriff as he surveyed some of the hardest hit areas to see the full scope of ian s power. you know that as we are speaking right now, there are people that want us and need us and we can t get to them. reporter: people like jack and betty. an elderly couple who hasn t been heard from since the storm hit their continue dope. the worst part is the waiting and the unknown and not knowing that they re okay. reporter: their son scott says his parents were unable to evacuate in time and forced to hunker down on their ground floor. but rescuer
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