a crisis with no ordinary solution because this was no ordinary storm. look at the staggering scale of destruction. complicating hundreds of rescue efforts. it laid waste to entire towns, robbing people of their homes and livelihoods. some residents are now beginning to pick up the pieces. others have no pieces left to pick up. i just returned from a boat ride with the cageous navy where i saw some of the destruction for myself. this is what ian did to matt lachey in lee county where most of the deaths occurred so far. in matlacha. they find one of your neighbors? yeah. yeah. they found, like, i think three bodies so far in the water. i know there s more. cnn s nadia romero is in arcadia. we begin with brian todd in naples. officials said it could take months to recover. we have seen evidence all day long from our boat ride to where you are right now. where do things stand today where you are? jim, we re going to show you more evidence of why it s going to take so lon
unrecognizable landmarks. and it also store up ft. myers beach. we went on a boat ride with the cajun navy and other volunteer rescuers across the area. and matt lachey in the coastal area is where most of the deaths occurred. what is going on over here? a lot of restaurants, into the lot of homes. pretty much all restaurants. theme that do shrimping, fishing. there was buildings the whole way. and they are just gone. you heard their stories that there are bodies in some of the canals and stuff? yeah, like up to the second story window, the water was still going. and that is the road right there. yeah. and it is gone. yeah. this area is pretty typical of the destruction around here. there is a bridge intact just about a block from here. maybe a quarter of a mile, nothing more than that, but the road leading to that bridge is completely washed out. so the island that is on the other side of that bridge is cut off right now. the people texted me hey, your ho
united states and around the world. it is wednesday, october 19th. i m christine romans. we should hopefully know the winners of the mid-term election. the latest cnn polling shows the economy and inflation are the top issues for voters. later today president biden will announce the sale of 15 million barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve. that will happen in december. mr. biden s aim is to ease gas prices. the move fulfills the administration s decision back in march to release a total of 180 million barrels from the reserve over a six-month period. we get more now from cnn s phil mattingly. reporter: president biden and his top economic officials have for several months made trying to do something, anything to dampen skyrocketing gas prices a central priority, if not the top priority both politically and economically for the administration. over the course of the summer they had a pretty good run, three months of consecutive drops. a run that was put into qu
speeds up to 85 miles per hour a and life threateninghreateni storm surges expected up to seven feet. we are monitorin g the track off the storm. and we ll take you ot governor de santos as soon as he startsgovern speaking. but we want to switch gears right now. there s a disturbing trend oswif law enforcement coming under attack. outrage sweeping the nation followinenforcemeng the murder r first responder in new york city. twenty four year fdny veteran lieutenant ellis russo elingsons was walking in uniform lessg inu than a block from her station. nihouse when she was stabbed ovr 20 times in a quote, barbaric and completely unprovoked attack. the suspecrbaric a t was taken into custody after barricaded himself inside a nearby buildinging. d wi he is charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. nypd commissioner kitchen condemning the senselesss attack attack. this deadly, senseless, broad daylight attack on a uniformed emt member is a direct assault on our soci
will: remnants of ian continue to devastate the southeast. videos and photographs don t do the devastation any justice. it looks like a bomb exploded frankly. we ve been through irma, wilma 15 years ago, this is something i have never seen in my life. i need you to get up in there and i will hand her to you and you need to hold her. i don t know what else to do. only thing we can do is pray. will: a shelter in place warning issued in florida after a possible levy breach with potential to unleash 15 foot floodwaters into areas already devastated by hurricane ian. pete: that warning sent to eastern sarasota county, one of the hardest hit areas by the storm when it made landfall as a category 4 hurricane this week. search and rescue efforts underway is 30 people confirmed dead. 7 deaths alone in florida. more than one million people in florida without power this morning. will: en making its third and final landfall searching inland as a post-tropical cyclone