we have florida still reeling from the devastation from hurricane ian. we re concerned about the storm. i should have left and shouldn t have stayed. listening to the winds, which were horrible for hours. the storm now soaking the mid atlantic making its way up north and death toll in florida continues to climb. pete: alexandria hoff is live in fort meyers beach. alexandria. well, good morning. we re here on san carlos island, part of fort meyers beach and aside from the utility crews working up the street and the occasional police siren, the scene is quiet, it s still and sad. it s really easy to understand when you look at the wreckage behind me why this rescue and recovery and these operation haves been so challenging, but they ve been productive. according to the lee county sheriff s office, 6 to 700 rescues were made and the sheriff is reporting 35 deaths in the county as well and the numbers may rise as individual counties are reporting. about 30 minutes north o
the hurricane hit, but there s just such a huge volume of water dumping in, there s nowhere to go. pete: i think i m correct on this that most of the deaths have been attributed to drowning to your point now. anything you can clear up for us really quickly, fiona, on the status of the levy? is the water clearing the levy and has it broken and being a important issue on the level of the water, what s the latest on that levy? so the level of the water has peaked over the level i have and in some cases water has peaked over the top and if you don t know what a levy is, it s the same as a berm or hill that separates the high point of the water near the community next to it. the water needs to move its way south ward down to open water in char lot harbor. but it s it doesn t happen
she said they prayed all night along as the storm hit, that woman you re looking at and the grandmother behind and the little baby. yeah. and several small dogs. that s right. and the little dogs. they were all in that house all night long during the storm. they said that basically the sheeting on the roof came off. there was water dumping through the entire house. they re about as high as you can be in that area. and the water came up almost to the very top of their front porch. and the entire community, like i said, chris, they got through it, they say, on prayers. they re very grateful they made it out okay. i don t know if you can see now the footage that we re sending to you, again, it s not live footage but it s coming directly in on tape. these are cars driving in in only high profile vehicles, like the two pickup trucks i m looking at now. i don t know if you have that tape. yeah, we re watching it i think as you re watching it.
going anywhere. we will crest at 43 feet and is 14 feet above flood level and four feet above historic flood levels. this is shaping up to be one of the first flood of the historically devastating flood of 1993 near valley park. and local, state and federal agencies, the national guard here, monitoring 19 at risk in this region. lea: street signs barely sticking above the water. how long will these waters cripple the area? reporter: several regions are expected to rise, but water is expected to crest later today at 43 feet and in st. louis 43 feet and south of us in chester at 49 feet. a lot of this water dumping into
spain. an emergency official says that fire on the island of abeza has burned thousands of acres of land. officials have evacuated hundreds of people, including many tourists. we re told more than 500 firefighters and 15 water dumping planes are working to put out the blaze. no reports of anybody hurt. bolivia. authorities discovering more than a dozen cocaine processing labs in the central region. soldiers searching nearby rivers and finding containers filled with the drug in various stages of production. no word of any arrest. peru. a group of protesters trashing public buildings and setting fire to some vehicles in the southern region. they re demanding the government cancel a license for silver mine that s planned for the area. the demonstrators say they are afraid the operation would contaminate a nearby lake and hurt fishing and agriculture. the country s president claims officials cannot revoke that license.