got clobbered with all of the furniture and stuff that was floating. that is how i got this. i got shoved into a wall. when i got the front door open and there was a surge, it took me to the middle of the yard and i fought to get back on the porch. the shear force of the monster storm. we are standing in the middle of some of the destruction. i am john berman in fort myers, florida. in hurricane ian, it is a hurricane again. it has intensified to a category 1 storm and after tearing a destructive path through florida it is headed at south carolina with 85 miles per hour winds and it is expected to make landfall around midday near myrtle beach and could bring life threatening flooding there after what it did here. parts of the state just decimated. south carolina s governor says that we know what is coming. thursday was the first chance to assess some of the damage. cnn is reporting at least 19 storm related deaths. that number will almost certainly rise. here in fort myer
responders. after this moment is passed you will be with people making the toughest decisions going back to your houses. how do you know whether you can rebuild? that is a great question. i am from saint pete florida. the family spent the last week preparing our own home. bagging sand. doing everything that we could to prepare. i really feel for my neighbors and friends. they didn t have as much of a heads up as we had. the biggest mission now and the most important thing is to save lives. it will be really complicated rebuilding and cleaning efforts that are going to happen. companies like mine stands ready to serve. i just got off of a phone call with someone that heli vacced
two feet on long island. the strong winds, low visibility causing more than 2,000 flights to be canceled so far across the city. stranding, of course, tens of thousands of travelers as they wait out the storm, now classified, by the way, as a bomb cyclone. and nbc s ellison bar we are is in brooklyn, new york, out in the bomb cyclone. you re in my hood, my friend. it s not great out there. it s fun if you can get a sled and get pulled around the streets of new york city as we do, but nonetheless, it s windy, it s cold. reporter: yeah, it is, and look, i want to show you, there are snowplows already coming through this area. we ve started to see a little bit of cleaning efforts get under way, more and more people braving the elements, family sledding walked right by us but when the wind picks up, you notice the warnings the mayor, the governor has been giving.