ian now stands at 109. all but four of them in western flo florida. today people who evacuated from sanibel islandone of the hardest hit in the state, will be allowed to return to survey their losses. it s going to hit home. it s going to be emotional when they see their properties up close and the amount of damage that this storm inflicted upon them. more now from cnn s carlos suarez. he is in fort myers. reporter: the need for help in florida, immediate. at one food distribution site in north fort myers, the line of cars grew by the hour. the cajun navy foundation on the ground in florida for days handing out crucial supplies for residents without basic services. we got diapers. i know there s water, food. reporter: thousands so far have been rescued from destroyed or flooded homes with harrowing stories of survival. i got pushed away and went around the building and i was able to find some bushes. i grabbed onto it. pulled myself in. halfway in. and i just stay
partners to carry astronauts. they ll carry astronauts to the international space station. let s watch. t minus 15. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, mission, engines full power, and lif lift-off. 1 alpha. copy 1 alpha. the vehicle is pitching downrange. stage 1 propulsion. apparent telemetry. stage 1. martin savidge as we watch this takeoff. it s majestic. i could watch it over andover. i m a bit of a space geek. walk through, again, the importance of this mission, and, again, the commander, a native american woman. that s a pretty historic thing. a cosmonaut on an american spacecraft for the first time in 20 years. an important mission and remarkable pictures. it is because of the commitment of the united states and russia despite the tensions that have been introduced into the space program. they need each other. and as a result, the reintegration now of having russians fly an american spacecraft is an important message. and then, of course, for nicole mann.
to get a closer look at the devastation on sanibal island as residents returned home for the first time. it was an emotional romoment fo so many people. reporter: absolutely, pamela. we took this boat ride with a couple of women who brought their home on sanibal island two years ago. it was their dream home, and they had to hire a driver, a captain, because it s the only way to get to the island now, because that causeway was destroyed by hurricane ian. so, it was about an hourlong boat ride and then about a mile walk from the beach to their home, and what we saw along the way was just horrible. and so sad. there were cars that were turn around over. there were buildings collapsed, resorts just destroyed. as we approached their home, they could see the screen around their pool had caved in. then, it took them about an hour to get inside because the hurricane shutters were down, and they re powered by electricity, and there is none. once inside, the upstairs level was dry. t
members of the far right extremist group talking about bringing weapons to the capitol to, quote, fight for former president trump. this was months before the insurrection. and the fbi was alerted. we ve got it all covered, but we begin in florida where the race to find the missing is entering a desperate critical phase. let s go first to boris sanchez in fort myers. and boris, update us on the search efforts. reporter: ana, this is an arduous process for this community. it is still classified as search and rescue, but it is slowly becoming a search and recovery operation. we heard from the sheriff of lee county just a short time earlier today and he shared with us the difficulty that his crews are having as they comb through communities that are now unrecognizable, sifting through debris and uncovering bodies. here in lee county there are at least 55 fatalities because of hurricane ian. this county makes up the bulk of all fatalities for the state of florida. still the she
thursday is not going to happen. at least it s not going to happen yet, they re putting that off until some later date. we have no idea when. but the hearing tomorrow on tuesday is still on. it will be live starting at 1 pm eastern. and because we know a big important hearing in the middle of a school day and work day is not the most convenient thing for everyone, we here at msnbc will have a prime recap of tomorrow s hearing, but tomorrow starting at 8 pm eastern. i ll be hosting that along with my dear friend chris hayes and others the whole team. that is 1 pm when the live hearing starts. 8 pm as when we will start our prime time recap. i can tell you one thing in advance of tomorrow s hearing. i can tell you for sure that the tattoo portion quotient among the witnesses is about to go way up. i don t want to speculate about any of these folks might have lurking under their collars. it is totally possible of course that rusty bowers has an amazing torso full of tattoos, who