i m john berman in ft. myers, florida, and the storm has intensified again. 85-mile-per-hour winds, heading towards the carolinas. this after tearing the destructive path across florida. it is expected to make landfall in south carolina around midday, somewhere between charleston and myrtle beach. it could produce life-threatening floods there in the carolinas. this is already liskely the largest natural disaster in florida s history. i m standing in the middle of some of the damage, in a marina where the boats have been washed up on to the shore here. parts of florida have been seriously damaged. as of this morning, 19 storm-related deaths. that number will almost certainly rise. in ft. myers beach, some of the destruction is breathtaking. i had a chance to have an aerial view of it, take a helicopter ride over, and there were sections that were just washed away. the pier, the large pier there, you can see it almost better from air. that s just been completely washed away. a
be there. that s my commitment to. neil: here s the thing. ian is not leaving. it s down but not out. ian now a tropical storm is expected to make its way back to a category one hurricane after devastating the sunshine state. south carolina s governor will hold a news conference shortly. here s what we know right now. a storm surge up to seven feet predicted for charleston, south carolina as of tomorrow. in florida today, more than 2.6 million people are still without power across the state. no indications when they will get that back. search and rescue operations underway in florida s barrier islands and other hard-hit areas. governor desantis calling it a 24/7 operation. moments from now, we ll talk to the mayor of fort myers florida particularly hard hit by the storm. first, fox team coverage with robert ray in fort myers and steve harrigan in charlotte county where they re trying to dig out. welcome. i m neil cavuto. let s go to robert ray in f fort myers that got reall
and you can see on the beach, the lines where the water just went through. it went right, straight through that barrier island, carrying houses with it. it will take so long to rebuild there and there is still so much need. the coast guard has been trying to reach people on sanibel island who have been cut off from the main lapd after the storm surge hit so much of that island. and washed away parts of the sanibel causeway. so you can t drive to sanibel anymore. with me now is rear admiral brendan mcpherson. he s the commander of the seventh coast guard district. admiral, thank you for being with us. let me first ask you about the now. what are you doing now? how much need is there to reach people this morning? yeah, good morning, john. it was a busy day of search and rescue for the coast guard yesterday. we had 16 aircraft up in the air throughout the day and overnight. we were able to rescue 95
Planes. they re evacuated out of these hard-hit centers, and they are the walking wounded. we came across one woman yesterday, a 53-year-old woman, zoraida, who had been in the typhoon with her 16-year-old daughter and her elderly father. they were holding on to each other, and then the storm surge hit. this is obviously what claimed so many lives. she said she couldn t hold on to them any longer. i think we have the sound for you we would like to play. let s take a listen. i lost my daughter. my 16-year-old daughter. i told her during the evacuation, go, go. li live. but my daughter said, no, mama, i can t leave you. no, i can t leave you. absolutely heartbreaking. and she is one of so many with similar stories. it is a dire situation, but
Reliving the terror of when i typhoon hit. this 53-year-old woman huddled with her 16-year-old daughter and elderly father, but when the storm surge hit, she couldn t save them. i lost my daughter, my 16-year-old daughter. i told her during the evacuation, go, go, continue tin-tin, go, leave me, but my daughter said, no, mama, i can t leave you. reporter: there are so many stories like them you can see a hercules has landed. there s a stream of survivors. they re coming from tacloban, a hard-hit town. these people have an enormous task ahead of them. they have been through such horrors, and now they have the enormous task of rebuilding