Follow Saturday’s coverage for the latest updates. Our earlier story is below.

Ian weakened to a post-tropical storm Friday evening, the National Hurricane Center said, hours after making landfall in South Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane. The storm was moving inland over North Carolina overnight Friday, bringing the potential of flash flooding and gusty winds to that state.

The hurricane center said Ian made landfall near Georgetown, South Carolina, just after 2 p.m. Friday, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. Ian was expected to weaken Saturday and “dissipate early Sunday,” the NHC reported.

The center of the storm was 60 miles southeast of Greensboro, North Carolina as of late Friday night, the NHC reported. It had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, and was moving north at 15 mph. 

In Florida, the scope of devastation from the storm was starting to become clear, as rescue missions continued and power and water outages persisted. New images on Friday showed extensive wreckage and disastrous flooding. 

State emergency officials announced 21 deaths as of Friday morning, however they’re not sure if all are directly related to the storm. Additionally, in Volusia County, the sheriff’s department has confirmed two storm-related deaths there. As crews continue to conduct searches, the death toll could rise as officials learn more about the losses from Ian.


Tracking Hurricane Ian as it hits South Carolina

00:54

Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/hurricane-ian-death-toll-florida-south-carolina-north-carolina-forecast-tracker-2022-09-30/

Many beach cottages that lined the shores of Sanibel Island were wiped away by Hurricane Ian’s storm surge, new aerial imagery from NOAA shows.

Most homes on Sanibel and Captiva islands are still standing, but appear to have sustained some form of roof damage, in addition to certain storm surge and flooding damage.

Near the Casa Ybel Beach Resort, large scars in the sands are seen – the surge eroded much of the beach and dunes.

NOAA

If you are unable to see the images, click here.

Shalimar Cottages & Motel is gone, too. Its 14 cottages and entire motel building were wiped away by the storm. At least four cottages – or what remains of them – are sitting in the street.

NOAA

Mitchell’s SandCastles has also been completely destroyed. There are no buildings left and the property is covered in sand.

NOAA

Only one building remains of the Waterside Inn on the Beach. The only thing remaining of the eight buildings on the property, which encircle the swimming pool, is debris.

NOAA

The roofs of the four buildings that comprise Ocean’s Reach have sustained significant damage. It’s unclear how things fared inside the buildings, but a significant debris field is seen behind the buildings. The covered parking structure behind the buildings has been destroyed as well.

NOAA

Even though storm surge is no longer covering Sanibel, a number of homes remain underwater located on the Sanibel Island Golf Club.

NOAA

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/30/us/hurricane-ian-sanibel-before-after/index.html

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2022/10/01/hurricane-ian-fort-myers-mobile-home-residents/8141577001/

Brazil’s hotly contested presidential election is less than 24 hours away, and for many Brazilians, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Two household names – former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and current leader Jair Bolsonaro – are battling to become the country’s next president. Depending on who ultimately wins, Latin America’s largest economy will likely either continue on Bolsonaro’s conservative, pro-business path, or else take a left turn under Lula.

In recent weeks, both candidates have ramped up efforts to woo voters. But this is an arduous task in a country where 85% of voters say they have already made up their minds, according to a Datafolha poll released Thursday.

For Lula, more votes could mean victory in the first round of voting, with no need for a runoff. Meanwhile, Bolsonaro needs to catch up, after slipping 14 points behind his rival in the same survey.

When is Brazil’s election?

Brazilians will vote for their next president on Sunday, October 2, in the first round of the elections. On the same date, governors, senators, federal and state deputies for the country’s 26 states plus the federal district will also be chosen.

Voting is scheduled to start at 8 a.m. local time in Brasilia (7 a.m. ET) and concludes at 5 p.m. local (4 p.m. ET).

In the Brazilian electoral system, a winning candidate must gain more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate crosses that threshold, a second round of voting will be organized, in which the options will be narrowed down to the two frontrunners from the first round.

In Brazil, opinion polls always estimate candidates’ potential performance in the first round (competing against with all other candidates) and in the second round (with just two top candidates).

Over 156 million Brazilians are eligible to vote.

Who are the candidates?

Bolsonaro and Lula are by far the candidates to watch. Though other candidates are also in the race, they’re polling with one-digit percentages and are unlikely to pose much competition.

Lula, 76, was Brazil’s President for two terms – from 2003 to 2006 and 2007 to 2011. A household name, he first came into the political scene in the 1970s as a leader of worker strikes which defied the military regime.

In Brazil’s heated presidential election, anything could happen

In 1980, he was one of the founders of the Workers’ Party (PT), which went on to become Brazil’s main left-wing political force. Lula’s presidential terms were marked by programs aimed at reducing poverty and inequality in the country but also rocked by revelations of a corruption scheme involving the payment of congressional representatives to support government proposals. Due to lack of evidence of his involvement, Lula himself was never included in the investigation of this scheme.

Lula’s campaign for the presidency now promises a new tax regime that will allow for higher public spending. He has vowed to end hunger in the country, which has returned during the Bolsonaro government. Lula also promises to work to reduce carbon emissions and deforestation in the Amazon.

Bolsonaro is a former army captain who was a federal deputy for 27 years before running for President in 2018. A marginal figure in politics during much of this time, he emerged in the mid-2010s as a leading figure of a more radically right-wing movement, which perceived the PT as its main enemy.

As a President, Bolsonaro has pursued a conservative agenda, supported by important evangelical leaders. His government also became known for its support for ruthless exploitation of land in the Amazon, leading to record deforestation figures. Environmentalists have warned that the future of the rainforest could be at stake in this election.

In his program, Bolsonaro promises to increase mining, privatize public companies and generate more sustainable energy to bring down energy prices. He has vowed to continue paying a R$600 (roughly US$110) monthly benefit known as Auxilio Brasil.

When will we know the results?

Vote counting begins right after ballots (mostly electronic) close on Sunday.

Brazil’s electoral authorities say they expect final results from the first round to be officially announced that evening, on October 2. They will be published on the electoral court’s website.

In the last few elections, results were officially declared two to three hours after voting finished. If the leading candidate does not manage to muster more than half of all valid votes, a second round will take place on October 30.

Observers will be watching closely to see if all candidates accept the vote result publicly. Bolsonaro, who has been accused of firing up supporters with violent rhetoric, has sought to sow doubts about the result and said that the results should be considered suspicious if he doesn’t gain “at least 60%.”

Both he and his conservative Liberal Party claimed that Brazil’s electronic ballot system is susceptible to fraud – an entirely unfounded allegation that has drawn comparisons to the false election claims of former US President Donald Trump.

There have been no proven instances of voter fraud in the electronic ballot in Brazil.

The Supreme Electoral Court has also rejected claims of flaws in the system, as “false and untruthful, with no base in reality.”

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/01/americas/brazil-election-explainer-intl-latam/index.html

A small photo of Jacklyn Casarez, one of the children killed during the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, in May, graced the front of a greeting card held by Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke, who visited a Rio Grande Valley park Friday morning before the one and only staged debate with incumbent governor Greg Abbott.

“Maybe you don’t consider yourself a political person,” Kimberly Rubio, whose 10-year-old daughter Lexi was also killed in the 24 May shooting at Robb elementary, said Friday during a pre-debate news conference.

“Maybe you’re not a fan of either candidate, but I implore you to ask yourself, do you want to send your child off to school and have them return? Do you want to hug them every night before bed? Do you want the opportunity to watch them grow?”

Kimberly recalled dropping off Lexi at Robb’s campus for an awards ceremony on the morning of the shooting. The girl’s parents promised her ice cream.

“She turns around to leave. We’re walking behind her. I tell her that I love her and we’ll pick her up from school. She turns around and smiles at me,” Kimberly recalled. That was the last time she’d see her daughter, whom her father described as bright and opinionated, alive.

The Rubios were one of several Uvalde families who accompanied O’Rourke to Edinburg on Friday, despite the 10-hour bus ride each way.

Uvalde was shattered – changed forever – after an 18-year-old man stormed into the Robb school with a pair of high-powered rifles as well as hundreds of rounds of ammunition and killed 19 children and two teachers there.

“The community is basically a Republican town,” Jesse Rizo, Jacklyn’s uncle, said Friday morning. “So it makes it a little bit challenging. But I think the people at this point are putting their differences aside. They’re not voting straight blue or straight red.”

Republican lawmakers at the local and state level who were reluctant to support restricting access to high-powered guns frustrated the families of those killed at Robb. They characterized themselves as Democrat or apolitical, and they have now decided to join O’Rourke because he has at least promised reform that could have changed the trajectory of their lives.

Pre-debate supporters cheer for O’Rourke in Edinburg, Texas. Photograph: Eric Gay/AP

“If changes were made years ago, my daughter would still be alive today,” Jacklyn’s mom, Gloria Casarez, said. “My daughter was transported to the hospital [that day] with a heartbeat. She later died.”

Aside from reproductive rights, immigration reform and LGBTQ rights, O’Rourke’s support for gun control has helped him make some gains with Texas voters who agreed changes were necessary after the Uvalde massacre.

“I’ve traveled to every part of the state, literally,” O’Rourke said. “I listened to people who are for me. I have listened to people who will never vote for me.”

And those travels have inspired him to propose prohibiting anyone who is younger than 21 from buying guns.

“All of them agree that this makes sense,” O’Rourke said about raising the minimum age to legally purchase firearms. The measure would allow the state to preserve the right to bear arms as called for by the US constitution’s second amendment while also “better protecting the lives of our children”.

O’Rourke is also pushing for universal background checks and the implementation of red-flag laws, which help keep guns away from those deemed to be a danger to themselves or others.

“Criminals won’t follow the law. It won’t matter what we do,” O’Rourke said, referring to the criticism heard by some voters. He acknowledged his proposed changes won’t always stop a tragedy from happening. “But this troubled young man in Uvalde patiently waited until he was 18 years old. He never tried to acquire that firearm when he was 16 or 17. Upon his 18th birthday, he was legally able to go into a gun store and buy not one, but two AR-15s and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.”

Abbott has dedicated resources to address mental health problems after the Uvalde massacre, but victims’ relatives have noticed he has avoided embracing gun control reform.

“There’s a combination of things – one of them is a mental issue,” Jesse Rizo said. “The other one is going to be about putting a weapon in the hands of a young person. It doesn’t make any sense. Things like that resonate.”

Rizo said O’Rourke captured his attention by listening to their pleas for reform. Loved ones of those lost in May said Abobott met their cries with deaf ears.

“We are no longer asking – we’re demanding that governor Abbott call a special [legislative] session and raise the age limit to 21,” said Veronica Mata, whose daughter Tess Marie was killed at Robb.

Mata, Rizo, the Rubios and the rest of the families were not able to attend the debate despite their long trek to south Texas. O’Rourke said Abbott would only agree to debate with no audience – even spouses. However, O’Rourke said he would bring the greeting card signed by the Uvale victims’ families with him on stage, along with other mementos.

Meanwhile, the Uvalde families pledged to continue their journey beyond Friday’s debate.

“It happened to me – it can happen to you,” Kimberly Rubio said. “I’m speaking directly to moms when I say our babies’ lives are on that ballot.”

Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/01/uvalde-school-shooting-beto-o-rourke-texas-greg-abbott

Burkina Faso controls as little as 60% of its territory, experts say, and Islamist violence is worsening. Since 2020 more than a million people have been displaced in the country due to the violence.

Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-63081706

KYIV, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Ukraine said on Saturday it had encircled thousands of Russian troops around the eastern town of Lyman, in a battlefield rebuttal to the Kremlin a day after it proclaimed the region to be part of Russia.

The capture of Lyman would be a major setback for Russia after President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the annexation of the Donetsk region, along with three others, at a ceremony in Moscow on Friday condemned by Kyiv and the West as a farce.

Russia has 5,000 to 5,500 troops at Lyman but their numbers may be lower because of casualties and troops trying unsuccessfully to break out, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern forces said.

“The Russian grouping in the area of Lyman is surrounded,” the spokeperson, Serhii Cherevatyi, said on television.

The Russian Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

LOGISTICS HUB

Russia has used Lyman as a logistics and transport hub for its operations in the north of the Donetsk region. Its fall would be Ukraine’s biggest battlefield gain since a lightning counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last month.

The Ukrainian military spokersperson said the capture of Lyman would allow Kyiv to advance into the Luhansk region, whose full capture Moscow announced at the beginning of July after weeks of slow, grinding advances.

“Lyman is important because it is the next step towards the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbas. It is an opportunity to go further to Kreminna and Sievierodonetsk, and it is psychologically very important,” he said.

The operation around Lyman is still under way and Russian troops are mounting unsuccessful attempts to break out of the encirclement, Cherevatyi said.

“Some are surrendering, they have a lot of killed and wounded, but the operation is not yet over,” he said.

Ukraine’s exiled governor of Luhansk said Russian forces had sought safe passage out of the encirclement, but Ukraine rejected the request.

The Ukrainian General Staff told Reuters it had no such information.

Putin proclaimed the Donbas regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to be Russian land in Friday’s ceremony – a swathe of territory equal to about 18% of Ukraine’s total surface land area.

Ukraine and its Western allies branded Russia’s move as illegal. Kyiv vowed to continue liberating its land of Russian forces and said it would not hold peace talks with Moscow while Putin remained as president.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-encircles-russian-forces-around-lyman-stronghold-military-2022-10-01/

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Florida death toll from Hurricane Ian rose to 33 Friday afternoon, ABC News reports, as Florida authorities on Friday afternoon confirmed several drowning deaths and other fatalities.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said the deaths included a 22-year-old woman who was ejected from an ATV rollover on Friday because of a road washout in Manatee County and a 71-year-old man who died of head injuries when he fell off a roof while putting up rain shutters on Wednesday. Many of the other deaths were drownings, including a 68-year-old woman who was swept into the ocean by a wave.

Another three people died in Cuba as the storm made its way north earlier in the week. The death toll was expected to increase substantially when emergency officials have an opportunity to search many areas hardest hit by the storm.

Ian made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane with winds at 85 mph near Georgetown, South Carolina, just after 2 p.m. Friday. It was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone hours later.

Click here for live radar and the latest forecast on Ian’s path.

PHOTOS: Haunting aerial images show Hurricane Ian’s aftermath in Fort Myers, Sanibel Island

A revived Hurricane Ian battered coastal South Carolina on Friday, ripping apart piers and filling neighborhoods with calf-high water, after the deadly storm caused catastrophic damage in Florida and trapped thousands in their homes.

Ian’s center came ashore near Georgetown with much weaker winds than when it crossed Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday as one of the strongest storms to ever hit the U.S. As it moved across South Carolina, Ian dropped from a hurricane to a post-tropical cyclone.

Sheets of rain whipped trees and power lines and left many areas on Charleston’s downtown peninsula under water. Four piers along the coast, including two at Myrtle Beach, collapsed into the churning waves and washed away. Online cameras showed seawater filling neighborhoods in Garden City to calf level.

Ian left a broad swath of destruction in Florida, flooding areas on both of its coasts, tearing homes from their slabs, demolishing beachfront businesses and leaving more than 2 million people without power. At least nine people were confirmed dead in the U.S. – a number that was expected to increase as officials confirm more deaths and search for people.

Rescue crews piloted boats and waded through riverine streets Thursday to save thousands of people trapped amid flooded homes and shattered buildings.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday that crews had gone door-to-door to over 3,000 homes in the hardest-hit areas.

“There’s really been a Herculean effort,” he said during a news conference in Tallahassee.

Among those killed were an 80-year-old woman and a 94-year-old man who relied on oxygen machines that stopped working amid power outages, as well as a 67-year-old man who was waiting to be rescued and fell into rising water inside his home, authorities said.

Officials fear the death toll could rise substantially, given the wide territory swamped by the storm.

Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said responders have focused so far on “hasty” searches, aimed at emergency rescues and initial assessments, which will be followed by two additional waves of searches. Initial responders who come across possible remains are leaving them without confirming, he said Friday, describing as an example the case of a submerged home.

“The water was up over the rooftop, right, but we had a Coast Guard rescue swimmer swim down into it and he could identify that it appeared to be human remains. We do not know exactly how many,” Guthrie said.

Desperate to locate and rescue their loved ones, social media users shared phone numbers, addresses and photos of their family members and friends online for anyone who can check on them.

MORE: Chunk of Sanibel Causeway falls into sea during Ian, cutting off Florida island where 6.3K live

Orlando residents returned to flooded homes Friday, rolling up their pants to wade through muddy, knee-high water in their streets. Friends of Ramon Rodriguez dropped off ice, bottled water and hot coffee at the entrance to his subdivision, where 10 of the 50 homes were flooded and the road looked like a lake. He had no power or food at his house, and his car was trapped by the water.

“There’s water everywhere,” Rodriguez said. “The situation here is pretty bad.”

University of Central Florida students living at an apartment complex near the Orlando campus arrived to retrieve possessions from their waterlogged units.

Deandra Smith, a nursing student, was asleep when others evacuated and stayed in her third-floor apartment with her dog. Other students helped get her to dry land Friday by pushing her through the flooded parking lot on a pontoon. She wasn’t sure if she should go back to her parents home in South Florida or find a shelter so she can still attend classes. “I’m still trying to figure it out,” she said.

RELATED: Hurricane Ian leaves trail of destruction in Florida, with estimates of billions in damage

The devastating storm surge destroyed many older homes on the barrier island of Sanibel, Florida, and gouged crevices into its sand dunes. Taller condominium buildings were intact but with the bottom floor blown out. Trees and utility poles were strewn everywhere.

Municipal rescuers, private teams and the Coast Guard used boats and helicopters Friday to evacuate residents who stayed for the storm and then were cut off from the mainland when a causeway collapsed. Volunteers who went to the island on personal watercraft helped escort an elderly couple to an area where Coast Guard rescuers took them aboard a helicopter.

Hours after weakening to a tropical storm while crossing the Florida peninsula, Ian regained strength Thursday evening over the Atlantic. Ian made landfall in South Carolina with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph). When it hit Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday, it was a powerful Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph (240 kph).

After the heaviest of the rainfall blew through Charleston, Will Shalosky examined a large elm tree in front of his house that had fallen across his downtown street. He noted the damage could have been much worse.

RELATED: Hurricane Ian could cause $65 billion in damage

“If this tree has fallen a different way, it would be in our house,” Shalosky said. “It’s pretty scary, pretty jarring.”

In North Carolina, heavy rain bands and winds crept into the state Friday afternoon. Gov. Roy Cooper warned residents to be vigilant, given that up to 8 inches (20.3 centimeters) of rain could fall in some areas, with high winds.

“Hurricane Ian is at our door. Expect drenching rain and sustained heavy winds over most of our state,” Cooper said. “Our message today is simple: Be smart and be safe.”

In Washington, President Joe Biden said he was directing “every possible action be taken to save lives and get help to survivors.”

“It’s going to take months, years to rebuild,” Biden said.

“I just want the people of Florida to know, we see what you’re going through and we’re with you.”

___

Gomez Licon reported from Punta Gorda, Florida; Associated Press contributors include Terry Spencer and Tim Reynolds in Fort Myers, Florida; Cody Jackson in Tampa, Florida; Freida Frisaro in Miami; Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida; Seth Borenstein in Washington; and Bobby Caina Calvan in New York.

ABC News contributed to this report

Source Article from https://6abc.com/hurricane-ian-florida-tracker-warning-update/12281523/

Neighborhoods under feet of water. Islands stripped bare of trees. The bones of former marinas emptied of their boats.

These are the devastating scenes coming to light as emergency response crews document before-and-after aerial images of the Southwest Florida coast.

The National Ocean Service started photographing Hurricane Ian’s destructive aftermath from above on Thursday, just 24 hours after the storm made landfall as one of the most powerful to ever strike the Florida peninsula.

Parts of Sanibel Causeway washed away

Storm surge from Hurricane Ian washed away a portion of the Sanibel Causeway just west of the mainland, cutting off access to the island. About a mile down the road, Causeway Islands Park was also overwhelmed by a surging Gulf of Mexico. Aerial images show what was once an island park dazzling with white sands, now battered and in pieces.

Fort Myers’ Legacy Harbour Marina in ruins

Home to the popular dining spot Joe’s Crab Shack, Legacy Harbour Marina in Fort Myers is now in ruins. On Thursday, yachts were piled on top of one another like building blocks. Wooden docks littered the road. The air smelled of tar and boat fuel. Aerial images show the marina destroyed by the storm.

The “Our Lady,” a boat from Pickwick, Tennessee, is seen on dry land between two palm trees. It’s one of the handful of boats that came to rest next to Joe’s Crab Shack, a popular dining spot on the Caloosahatchee River. [ Mex Chesnes | Special to the Times ]

Iona neighborhoods submerged

The unincorporated community of Iona, just southwest of downtown Fort Myers, was one of the neighborhoods most impacted by flooding. On Thursday, many low-lying homes were still submerged in roughly a foot of water. Aerial images show many suburban streets and homes unrecognizable because of flooding.

Gannet Drive

A flock of white ibis were wading the flooded streets of an Iona neighborhood on Thursday morning. Many streets, including Gannet Drive, are seen submerged in aerial imagery unveiled on Friday. [ Max Chesnes | Special to the Times ]

Windcrest Drive

More aerial missions planned

The first aerial mission covered some of the most damaged areas, including Sanibel Island, Punta Gorda and portions of both Cape Coral and the Caloosahatchee River stretching as far as Interstate 75.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to determine which areas to document, according to the agency.

Teams plan to fly over other impacted areas, including Fort Myers Beach, Bonita Springs and Port Charlotte, according to NOAA flight plans. A crew flew out again Friday morning, but the timeline for when the new imagery will become available “varies greatly,” the Ocean Service posted to Twitter.

At a time when cell service is still spotty in some of the hardest-hit areas, including Fort Myers Beach and San Carlos Island, the imagery “is a crucial tool to determine the extent of the damage inflicted by flooding,” according to NOAA.

The pictures offer insight into which roads are passable, which neighborhoods are destroyed, and which communities may have been spared from the worst, according to NOAA.

Photos from the National Geodetic Survey are captured with a high-tech aircraft, dubbed the Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350CER. It’s loaded with two digital cameras and sensors facing straight down.

You can find more NOAA aftermath imagery here.

Lofton’s Island

Harbour Preserve

• • •

Tampa Bay Times Hurricane Ian coverage

HOW TO HELP: Where to donate or volunteer to help Hurricane Ian victims.

TAMPA BAY CLOSURES: What to know about bridges, roads in Ian’s aftermath

WHEN THE STORM HAS PASSED: Now what? Safety tips for returning home.

POST-STORM QUESTIONS: After Hurricane Ian, how to get help with fallen trees, food, damaged shelter.

WEATHER EFFECTS: Hurricane Ian was supposed to slam Tampa Bay head on. What happened?

WHAT TO DO IF HURRICANE DAMAGES YOUR HOME: Stay calm, then call your insurance company.

SCHOOLS: Will schools reopen quickly after Hurricane Ian passes? It depends.

MORE STORM COVERAGE: Get ready and stay informed at tampabay.com/hurricane.

Source Article from https://www.tampabay.com/hurricane/2022/09/30/before-and-after-aerial-photos-show-hurricane-ians-stunning-toll-florida-coast/

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a stern warning to those trying to take advantage of the victims of Hurricane Ian.

DeSantis made the comments Friday during a news conference in Fort Myers, Florida. He said that while visiting nearby Punta Gorda, he saw a boarded-up business with a sign that read, “You loot, we shoot.”

“We are a law and order state, and this is a law and order community,” DeSantis said. “So do not think that you’re going to take advantage of people who’ve suffered misery.”

“Don’t even think about looting,” he said during another press conference later in the day.

HURRICANE IAN IN FLORIDA SPURS FRANTIC MESSAGES ABOUT MISSING LOVED ONES AND WRECKED HOMES

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gives an update on the damage from Hurricane Ian on Thursday.
(Florida Governor’s Office)

DeSantis added that people looking to “ransack people’s homes” should beware: Florida is a Second Amendment state.

“I can tell you in the state of Florida, you never know what may be lurking behind somebody’s home,” he said. “And I would not want to chance that if I were you — given that we’re a Second Amendment state.”

Ian made landfall in Florida on Wednesday, and nearly 2 million people remained without power as of Friday afternoon.

The hurricane made landfall as a powerful Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds reaching 155 mph. 

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno also said that he “will not tolerate” anyone trying to take advantage of people suffering as a result of the storm’s damage.

IAN DOWNGRADED TO POST-TROPICAL CYCLONE AS IT LASHES CAROLINAS; FLORIDA OFFICIALS REPORT MORE DEATHS

“We are not going to tolerate, I mean, zero tolerance when we say anyone that thinks they’re going to thrive on the residents of this county or state when we just took a horrific hit — I can guarantee you that is not going to happen,” Marceno said.

He said there will be “swift incarceration immediately with no tolerance.”

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Twenty-one deaths have been reported throughout Florida after Hurricane Ian went through the state, according to FOX 35, but officials say the number is expected to rise.

On Friday afternoon, Ian made landfall near Georgetown, South Carolina. The National Hurricane Center downgraded it to a post-tropical cyclone.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-gov-desantis-warns-those-taking-advantage-hurricane-victims-law-order-state

In Georgetown, near where Ian made landfall, floodwaters submerged parts of Front Street, the city’s main shopping district. Boutiques and cafes were secured with sandbags and the floodwaters were a few feet deep at the street’s lowest point.

Patricia Devine-Harms, 61, the owner of the Purr & Pour Cat Cafe, trekked through the water in pink rain boots in the aftermath of the storm, taking pictures of the flooding to send to other merchants on the street.

“We are really fortunate,” she said. “We sit three feet up, so we just got a flooded garage and some waters percolating up in between the buildings.”

At The Beverley Beach House, a 25-room oceanfront hotel in Myrtle Beach, Corey Shaw, the general manager, said that the building’s roof had been damaged.

“I’ve seen way worse,” he said. “We’ll just mop it up in the morning, and get back to business as usual.”

Eliza Fawcett reported from Georgetown, Kellen Browning from Pawleys Island, S.C., and Rick Rojas from North Charleston, S.C. Trista Talton contributed reporting from Myrtle Beach, S.C.Livia Albeck-Ripka and Soumya Karlamangla also contributed reporting. Susan C. Beachy, Kitty Bennett and Kirsten Noyes contributed research.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/30/us/south-carolina-hurricane-ian.html

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a stern warning to those trying to take advantage of the victims of Hurricane Ian.

DeSantis made the comments Friday during a news conference in Fort Myers, Florida. He said that while visiting nearby Punta Gorda, he saw a boarded-up business with a sign that read, “You loot, we shoot.”

“We are a law and order state, and this is a law and order community,” DeSantis said. “So do not think that you’re going to take advantage of people who’ve suffered misery.”

“Don’t even think about looting,” he said during another press conference later in the day.

HURRICANE IAN IN FLORIDA SPURS FRANTIC MESSAGES ABOUT MISSING LOVED ONES AND WRECKED HOMES

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gives an update on the damage from Hurricane Ian on Thursday.
(Florida Governor’s Office)

DeSantis added that people looking to “ransack people’s homes” should beware: Florida is a Second Amendment state.

“I can tell you in the state of Florida, you never know what may be lurking behind somebody’s home,” he said. “And I would not want to chance that if I were you — given that we’re a Second Amendment state.”

Ian made landfall in Florida on Wednesday, and nearly 2 million people remained without power as of Friday afternoon.

The hurricane made landfall as a powerful Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds reaching 155 mph. 

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno also said that he “will not tolerate” anyone trying to take advantage of people suffering as a result of the storm’s damage.

IAN DOWNGRADED TO POST-TROPICAL CYCLONE AS IT LASHES CAROLINAS; FLORIDA OFFICIALS REPORT MORE DEATHS

“We are not going to tolerate, I mean, zero tolerance when we say anyone that thinks they’re going to thrive on the residents of this county or state when we just took a horrific hit — I can guarantee you that is not going to happen,” Marceno said.

He said there will be “swift incarceration immediately with no tolerance.”

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Twenty-one deaths have been reported throughout Florida after Hurricane Ian went through the state, according to FOX 35, but officials say the number is expected to rise.

On Friday afternoon, Ian made landfall near Georgetown, South Carolina. The National Hurricane Center downgraded it to a post-tropical cyclone.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-gov-desantis-warns-those-taking-advantage-hurricane-victims-law-order-state

EDINBURG, Tex. (NEXSTAR) – Now that you’ve heard the two candidates for governor in Texas debate the biggest issues of the 2022 campaign, we want to know who you think had the best showing.

Did incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott do enough to win your support and hold onto his seat?  Did Democrat Beto O’Rourke have the big night he hoped for to gain the support from enough voters to send him to Austin?  We’re sharing the poll above across the state of Texas to see what debate watchers thought of Friday’s performance.

Check back over the next few days to see the latest results from this unscientific debate poll. 

The latest Nexstar Media/Emerson College poll conducted last week found Abbott with an 8-point lead over O’Rourke among likely Texas voters. 

Of course, the real vote happens on Nov. 8 when voters across Texas head to the ballot box for the general election. Early voting dates vary by location.  The last day to register to vote is Oct. 11.  You can register here.

If you’d like to see a replay of Friday’s debate, you can click here.  The on-demand video should be available about an hour following the conclusion of the event. 

Source Article from https://www.kxan.com/news/poll-who-won-the-texas-governors-debate/

Hours after she was formally sworn in at the Supreme Court on Friday, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson gave a rousing speech at the Library of Congress, saying that since her appointment, she has been approached by people from “all walks of life” with what she called “a profound sense of pride in what feels to me like renewed ownership.”

“I can see it in their eyes,” Jackson said. “They say this: ‘This is what we can accomplish if we put our minds to it.’”

“They’re saying to me, in essence you, ‘You go girl,’” she said. “‘We see you, and we are with you.’”

She said she was “humbled by the fanfare” surrounding her confirmation but added that she knows it is “not about me.”

“The people who approach, and especially the young people, they are seeing themselves portrayed in me, in my experience, and they are finally believing that anything is possible in this great country,” she added.

Jackson took the judicial oath Friday at a special sitting of the Supreme Court attended by President Joe Biden as well as legal luminaries from across Washington who gathered to celebrate the first time a Black woman has taken her seat on the highest court in the land.

Chief Justice John Roberts wished Jackson a “long and happy career in our common calling.”

Biden did not speak during the brief ceremony.

The investiture was purely ceremonial, as Jackson has been on the job since June and already cast votes on emergency applications. But she has yet to sit for oral arguments, and Friday marked her debut in the regal chamber that will now be her professional home for the next few decades.

At the beginning of Friday’s ceremony, Jackson sat in the well of the chamber in a chair used by Chief Justice John Marshall during the early 19th century. The court is steeped in tradition, and the session was opened when Gail Curley, the Marshal of the Court, banged the gavel and introduced the Court with the traditional cry that begins includes the familiar words “oyez, oyez, oyez.”

The eight justices, including three women, Justice Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Amy Coney Barrett smiled broadly. Retired Justice Stephen Breyer, who announced his retirement last June, looked on from a seat in the audience as Jackson, his former clerk, took his place.

After Scott Harris, the Clerk of the Court, read Jackson’s Commission, she was escorted to the bench and Roberts administered the Judicial Oath.

The audience included Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was nominated to the high court by President Barack Obama in 2016 but was blocked from serving when Republicans refused to hold hearings. On Friday, he sat with Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar and Principal Deputy Solicitor General Brian Fletcher at the counsel table in front of the bench.

Also in the audience was Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff as well as Jackson’s two daughters, Leila and Talia, her parents Ellery and Johnny Brown, her brother Ketajh and former House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican related to Brown by marriage.

Several spouses of the justices sat in a special section including conservative activist Ginni Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, who appeared yesterday before the House select committee investigating January 6 insurrection to testify about her activities around the 2020 election.

Key Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former Alabama Sen. Doug Jones – who was Jackson’s “sherpa” during the confirmation process – attended.

After the ceremony, Jackson walked down the steps in front of the Supreme Court with Roberts and was met by her husband Dr. Patrick G. Jackson.

At the Library of Congress, Jackson acknowledged the challenge ahead.

“And as I undertake the role of an associate justice, there is no doubt that I will have my share of pure bad luck. I will have promoters and I will have detractors, but with your support and God’s grace … I will keep moving. Thank you all, thank you all so much. I am truly grateful,” Jackson said. “I have a seat at the table now. I have a seat at the table now, and I’m ready to work.”

Jackson’s investiture comes on the eve of a new term and two days after the justices met for the first time in their annual closed-door conference to discuss pending petitions. Last term closed with an array of opinions that divided the court along ideological lines and the landmark opinion of Dobbs v. Jackson, that overturned Roe v. Wade.

Ketanji Brown Jackson’s first few months at the fractured Supreme Court

The upcoming term will feature cases where race plays a dominant role, including a challenge to college affirmative action plans as well as a dispute concerning the scope of a key section of the Voting Rights Act that prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race.

Jackson, the nation’s first Black female justice, will navigate those issues and others during her first term. Five months ago, she stood on the South Lawn of the White House after her confirmation and spoke about the “gifts my ancestors gave.” Quoting the poet Dr. Maya Angelou, Jackson added, “I am the dream and the hope of a slave.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/30/politics/justice-ketanji-brown-jackson-investitutre/index.html

“He’s not going to scare us nor intimidate us,” President Joe Biden said of Putin. “Putin’s actions are a sign he is struggling, the sham referendum he carried out, and his routine he put on … the United States is never going to recognize this, and quite frankly the world is not going to recognize it either.”

Leaders from across Europe read from the same playbook, pledging to support Ukraine and punish Russia for subverting international law by attempting, again, to steal Ukrainian territory.

The U.K.’s Chief of Defense Staff, Adm. Sir Tony Radakin, who spoke to reporters Friday during a visit to Washington, called the annexation “the invented reality of Putin, and the actual reality is that he’s declared these four territories as part of Russia, but he doesn’t even have control of those four territories.”

The swift rejection of Putin’s annexation announcement and his hints that he could use nuclear weapons show how global perception of his military and its competence have changed since the start of the war. His reputation, once feared, has been so damaged by his disastrous invasion that the threats he has used for so long to shape the geopolitical narrative no longer carry the power they once did.

Moscow has faced a torrent of setbacks and humiliations since Ukrainians launched their two-pronged counteroffensive this month. Rapid gains using modern, NATO-furnished weapons forced massive and panicked Russian retreats around the city of Kherson, pushing Russian forces back into their own country or into several shrinking pockets inside Ukraine.

The forecast for Russian forces over the next few weeks and months is equally grim, as conscripts with little training head to the front to face battle-hardened Ukrainians backed by new Western equipment, with more shipments arriving weekly.

Videos have emerged online of Russian officers telling conscripts to bring their own medical supplies and sleeping bags to the front, as Moscow is expected to leave its troops unsupported in the field.

“Russia doesn’t have enough people to crew the equipment that they’ve got,” Radakin said. “The equipment they’ve got is quite substantial, but much of it is ancient and in a bad condition. And then [Putin] had to go through this partial mobilization…you then start to see a feature of this mobilization is not people rushing to recruitment offices, but it’s people rushing to leave the country.”

A senior Defense Department official, who like others in this story requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said there have been no significant moves by Russian forces either before or after Putin’s speech on Friday, further suggesting that nothing at all had changed on the ground, at least in the Kremlin’s favor.

In fact, Russian troops in the city of Lyman in Donetsk Oblast — an area Putin on Friday said was now part of Russia — have been almost completely surrounded by Ukrainian forces who have cut off supply lines to the garrison. On Friday, Ukrainian commanders began calling for the Russian forces there to negotiate a surrender.

Lyman has for months been a key logistics and supply hub for Russian forces fighting in the country’s east, and its loss would further cripple the already stretched Russian resupply lines in areas increasingly contested by Ukrainian forces.

The continued loss of territory that Russia now claims as its own, along with the new sanctions packages announced by the U.S. and U.K. on Friday, will further squeeze the Kremlin’s ability to wage war and undermine the army’s ability to hold ground.

“Russia will struggle to hold the territory it claims to have annexed,” the Institute for the Study of War said in an analysis Friday. “Putin likely intends annexation to freeze the war along the current frontlines and allow time for Russian mobilization to reconstitute Russian forces.”

The institute, along with the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project, also generated a map on Friday showing that the four territories ready to be annexed actually include wide swaths of land still controlled by Ukraine.

While leaders have warned that declaring the territories part of Russia could serve as a pretext for escalating the war, Putin’s options are just as limited as they were before his announcement.

Ukraine has hobbled Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, and ship captains now avoid the coastline out of fear of being struck by missiles. The Russian air force mostly shies away from flying over Ukrainian airspace, and the Kremlin is woefully short of allies willing to enter the conflict. That leaves his ground force, which he is now stocking with untrained conscripts.

And even though Putin and other Russian officials have hinted at deploying tactical nuclear weapons, the U.S. assesses the probability as low. “We’ve not seen anything that indicates we should change our posture,” one senior DoD official said.

One European diplomat pointed out that Russian warnings against attacking the annexed territories ring hollow, and not only because Putin is already losing ground in those regions.

“Ukraine has hit Russian targets in Crimea several times, and Putin didn’t respond even though he claims Crimea is now part of Russia, too,” the diplomat said.

And more Western weapons are funneling into Ukraine. At the White House, national security adviser Jake Sullivan noted the $1.1 billion arms package announced this week, “and we expect to have another announcement of immediate security assistance to announce next week.”

The package will be worth several hundred million dollars, an administration official confirmed to POLITICO.

Drawing the aid out ensures that Ukraine can absorb the shipments of tens of thousands of artillery rounds, radars and armored vehicles, but also maintains the “psychological impact” of announcing regular packages of NATO-caliber weaponry to bolster Ukrainian allies and depress the morale of Russian forces and leadership, the official said.

Putin is trying to raise that morale, but his bluster on Friday is little more than a “fiction” of Russia’s strength and competence, Radakin said. He cautioned against overreacting.

That fiction “is a feature of weakness, and the pressure that Russia is under,” he said. “We’ve got to be very careful in responding to fictions.”

Lara Seligman contributed to this report

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/30/putin-tries-to-annex-his-way-into-a-different-reality-00059873

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A revived Hurricane Ian pounded coastal South Carolina on Friday, ripping apart piers and flooding streets after the ferocious storm caused catastrophic damage in Florida, trapping thousands in their homes and leaving at least 27 people dead.

The powerful storm, estimated to be one of the costliest hurricanes ever to hit the U.S., has terrorized people for much of the week — pummeling western Cuba and raking across Florida before gathering strength in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean to curve back and strike South Carolina.

While Ian’s center came ashore near Georgetown, South Carolina, on Friday with much weaker winds than when it crossed Florida’s Gulf Coast earlier in the week, the storm left many areas of Charleston’s downtown peninsula under water. It also washed away parts of four piers along the coast, including two at Myrtle Beach.

Online cameras showed seawater filling neighborhoods in Garden City to calf level. As Ian moved across South Carolina on its way to North Carolina Friday evening, it dropped from a hurricane to a post-tropical cyclone.

Ian left a broad swath of destruction in Florida, flooding areas on both of its coasts, tearing homes from their slabs, demolishing beachfront businesses and leaving more than 2 million people without power.

Even though the storm system has long passed over Florida, new issues were still presenting themselves Friday night. A 14-mile (22-kilometer) stretch of Interstate 75 was closed in both directions in the Port Charlotte area because of the amount of water in the Myakka River.

Many of the deaths were drownings, including that of a 68-year-old woman swept away into the ocean by a wave. A 67-year-old man who was waiting to be rescued died after falling into rising water inside his home, authorities said.

Other storm-related fatalities included a 22-year-old woman who died after an ATV rollover from a road washout and a 71-year-old man who fell off a roof while putting up rain shutters. An 80-year-old woman and a 94-year-old man who relied on oxygen machines also died after the equipment stopped working during power outages.

Another three people died in Cuba earlier in the week as the storm churned northward. The death toll was expected to increase substantially once emergency officials have an opportunity to search many of the hardest-hit areas.

Rescue crews piloted boats and waded through riverine streets in Florida after the storm to save thousands of people trapped amid flooded homes and shattered buildings .

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday that crews had gone door-to-door to over 3,000 homes in the hardest-hit areas.

“There’s really been a Herculean effort,” he said during a news conference in Tallahassee.

Hurricane Ian has likely caused “well over $100 billion” in damage, including $63 billion in privately insured losses, according to the disaster modeling firm Karen Clark & Company, which regularly issues flash catastrophe estimates. If those numbers are borne out, that would make Ian at least the fourth costliest hurricane in U.S. history.

Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said first responders have focused so far on “hasty” searches, aimed at emergency rescues and initial assessments, which will be followed by two additional waves of searches. Initial responders who come across possible remains are leaving them without confirming, he said Friday, describing as an example the case of a submerged home.

“The water was up over the rooftop, right, but we had a Coast Guard rescue swimmer swim down into it and he could identify that it appeared to be human remains. We do not know exactly how many,” Guthrie said.

Desperate to locate and rescue their loved ones, social media users shared phone numbers, addresses and photos of their family members and friends online for anyone who can check on them.

Orlando residents returned to flooded homes Friday, rolling up their pants to wade through muddy, knee-high water in their streets. Friends of Ramon Rodriguez dropped off ice, bottled water and hot coffee at the entrance to his subdivision, where 10 of the 50 homes were flooded and the road looked like a lake. He had no power or food at his house, and his car was trapped by the water.

“There’s water everywhere,” Rodriguez said. “The situation here is pretty bad.”

The devastating storm surge destroyed many older homes on the barrier island of Sanibel, Florida, and gouged crevices into its sand dunes. Taller condominium buildings were intact but with the bottom floor blown out. Trees and utility poles were strewn everywhere.

Municipal rescuers, private teams and the Coast Guard used boats and helicopters Friday to evacuate residents who stayed for the storm and then were cut off from the mainland when a causeway collapsed. Volunteers who went to the island on personal watercraft helped escort an elderly couple to an area where Coast Guard rescuers took them aboard a helicopter.

Hours after weakening to a tropical storm while crossing the Florida peninsula, Ian regained strength Thursday evening over the Atlantic. Ian made landfall in South Carolina with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph). When it hit Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday, it was a powerful Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph (240 kph).

After the heaviest of the rainfall blew through Charleston, Will Shalosky examined a large elm tree in front of his house that had fallen across his downtown street. He noted the damage could have been much worse.

“If this tree has fallen a different way, it would be in our house,” Shalosky said. “It’s pretty scary, pretty jarring.”

Ian’s heavy rains and winds crossed into North Carolina on Friday evening. Gov. Roy Cooper warned residents to be vigilant, given that up to 8 inches (20.3 centimeters) of rain could fall in some areas.

“Hurricane Ian is at our door. Expect drenching rain and sustained heavy winds over most of our state,” Cooper said. “Our message today is simple: Be smart and be safe.”

In Washington, President Joe Biden said he was directing “every possible action be taken to save lives and get help to survivors.”

“It’s going to take months, years to rebuild,” Biden said.

“I just want the people of Florida to know, we see what you’re going through and we’re with you.”

___

Gomez Licon reported from Punta Gorda, Florida; Associated Press contributors include Anthony Izaguirre in Tallahassee, Florida, Terry Spencer and Tim Reynolds in Fort Myers, Florida; Cody Jackson in Tampa, Florida; Freida Frisaro in Miami; Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida; Seth Borenstein in Washington; Bobby Caina Calvan in New York, and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina.

Source Article from https://apnews.com/article/hurricanes-floods-south-carolina-charleston-climate-and-environment-3f551a464ebec05f77d0e5e8b17fa3ed