After Hurricane Ian obliterated communities in Florida, rescue crews going door to door in search of survivors are reporting more deaths, and residents grappling with loss are facing a long, daunting recovery.
As of Tuesday, at least 102 people have been reported killed by the hurricane in Florida – 55 of them in Lee County. Ian also claimed the lives of four people in North Carolina.
The storm slammed into Florida as a furious Category 4 hurricane last Wednesday. Days later, some residents of island communities are cut off from the mainland, hundreds of thousands of people are without power and many Floridians have found themselves homeless.
In some cases, government officials dealing with recovery efforts are among those who lost their homes.
Fort Myers Beach City Councilman Bill Veach said his 90-year-old cottage is in ruins, with only one section that was a recent addition left standing. Pieces of his home were found two blocks away, he said.
“When you are walking around the ruins, it’s an apocalyptic scene,” Veach said of his neighborhood.
Still, even in the wreckage, there have been moments of hope, he said.
“You see a friend that you weren’t sure was alive or dead and that brings you joy. A joy that is so much more than the loss of property,” he added.
Rescuers have been coming to the aid of trapped residents via boat and aircraft. Statewide, more than 2,300 rescues have been made and over 1,000 urban search and rescue personnel have checked 79,000 structures, Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a news conference Tuesday. The governor also announced the opening of the first Disaster Recovery Center – or “one-stop shop” – in Fort Myers for residents and businesses that have been affected by Hurricane Ian.
Live updates: Hurricane Ian’s aftermath in Florida
Some residents who were anxiously waiting to hear from their loved ones have received unimaginable news.
Elizabeth McGuire’s family said they last spoke with her Wednesday and had been having trouble reaching her. They learned Friday that the 49-year-old had been found dead in her Cape Coral home.
Police told her family she died in her bed holding her cell phone and it looked like she died instantly, her son Andrew Chedester said.
McGuire’s mother, Susan McGuire, said the destruction of the storm “is massive.”
“One hundred blizzards will not cost you what one hurricane will cost you,” said Susan McGuire, who moved to Florida from Maryland a few years ago. “My husband’s business whipped out, my daughter is dead … I never had a blizzard take anything away from me.”
On Sanibel Island, now cut off from the Florida peninsula after Ian wiped out a portion of the roadway connecting them, every house shows damage, Sanibel Fire Chief William Briscoe said.
“There are a lot of places that are not livable. There are places off their foundation, and it’s very dangerous out there,” Briscoe said. “There are alligators running around, and there are snakes all over the place.”
Crews have evacuated 1,000 people from Sanibel since Ian ripped through the island, Briscoe said.
Sanibel Mayor Holly Smith told CNN Tuesday that residents will be allowed back on the island Wednesday to assess the damage to their property, but the island is still “extremely unsafe.”
A similar situation is playing out on nearby Pine Island, the largest barrier island on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Just days ago, it was a tranquil fishing and kayaking destination known for its small-town atmosphere. Now it’s a scene of carnage, with cracked roadways and destroyed homes.
Ian destroyed the only bridge to Pine Island, making it only accessible by boat or aircraft. Supplies are now being airdropped to the island by helicopter as some residents choose to stay, authorities said.
County officials are trying to get a temporary ferry service for Sanibel, Sheriff Carmine Marceno said Tuesday. For Pine Island, work is underway to install a temporary bridge, with a goal to have it ready by the end of the week, DeSantis has said.
Emergency physician Dr. Ben Abo, who joined rescuers on Pine Island, said crews are encountering residents who were in denial the storm would hit the area and are now running out of supplies.
“I’m seeing a lot of despair, but I’m also seeing hope,” Abo said. “I’m seeing urban search and rescue, fire rescue, bringing hope to people that we’re going to get through this. But we have to do it in stages.”
The National Guard will also be flying power crews to Sanibel and Pine islands to start working on restoring power. It could take at least a month to restore power for some places on those islands, Lee County Electric Cooperative spokesperson Karen Ryan said Tuesday.
DeSantis said Tuesday he has already vistied Pine Island and will likely visit Sanibel Island on Wednesday, one week after the island was ravaged by Hurricane Ian.
“We’re gonna have that bridge patched this week,” DeSantis said Tuesday of Pine Island. “Yesterday we had 130 (Florida Department of Transportation) trucks that were there working to get this temporary bridge fixed. It will be done this week.”
At Fort Myers Beach, where storm surge and wind combined to wipe out numerous homes and businesses, it may also take a month to restore power due to damage to the electrical infrastructure,” Lee County Manager Roger Desjarlais said.
It’s unclear how many people remain unaccounted for after the storm. Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said authorities are working to consolidate a list of the missing.
Search teams have been combing a 7-mile stretch of Fort Myers Beach for days, looking for anyone still in need of help. One of the teams, South Florida Task Force 2, found 150 people trapped in homes in its first 48 hours in the community, some of whom had ascended to attics to avoid floodwater, it said.
On Monday, the team still was helping people off the island town, as well as telling them where to get food and water. The team has found people who died at Fort Myers Beach, but it has not said how many.
Bob and Rosemary Kopsack were among those the team helped off the island Monday, after the storm ruined virtually everything inside their home. Bob Kopsack still didn’t know the fate of at least one of their friends on the island.
“Our best friend, we have not been able to contact him … and he’d said he’s not leaving the island. And I hope he did,” he said. “His phone’s out. … I’ve sent the police over to his home.”
In Lee County, which includes Fort Myers and Fort Meyers Beach, more than half the schools had at least some damage from Ian – and 14% had major damage, the school district said. Schools will reopen as quickly as possible, Superintendent Christopher Bernier said, without providing a timeline.
At Fort Myers Beach Elementary, mud lined a cafeteria; damaged desks, toppled supplies and other debris were piled up in a hallway; and water marks reached nearly to the tops of doorjambs, photos released by the district showed.
Some residents who lost property and belongings are recounting narrow escapes.
When Ian hit Florida’s west coast and floodwater surged through Fort Myers, Stan Pentz, 69, texted his daughter, Stephanie Downing, and told her the water was rising in his condo and he might drown. Then, he lost phone service, he told CNN on Tuesday.
More than an hour away, Downing assumed the worst. When she saw her sister the next day, “we just held each other and we just cried because we truly thought he was gone.”
Pentz managed to get out, however. Upon escaping his home, he was “swished away,” he recalled, and he latched onto some branches, clinging to them for hours, “with the wind blowing and the water gushing over my head. It was a long time.” After a while. the wind and water shifted and he reached the second floor of a building, where he huddled in a corner till sunrise, he said.
“It just kept going and going. It wouldn’t stop and I was just thinking about my kids and my grandkids and just everybody I know, and they just kept me going in my mind,” he said.
The storm passed, and Pentz found someone to text Downing for him. Downing’s sister and brother-in-law drove down to Fort Myers and retrieved him.
When Downing finally saw her dad, “I laid my head on his chest and I said, ‘Hey, Michael Phelps, you had a nice swim,’” she recalled as Pentz chuckled, playfully pantomiming slapping his daughter.
Pentz lost everything. He kicked his own submerged automobile as he swam to safety, he said. Downing said he’s now staying with her family at their Rotonda West home. A GoFundMe has raised thousands and a generous friend brought her dad some clothes and shoes. He was able to replace his cell phone and driver’s license Tuesday, Downing said.
“We’re getting somewhere,” she said.
A Naples man, meanwhile, trekked through nearly half a mile of floodwater to save his 85-year-old mother after Ian hit.
Johnny Lauder, a former police officer, told CNN he sprang into action after his mother, who uses a wheelchair, called in a panic and said water was rushing into her home and reaching her chest.
He arrived at her home to find her neck-deep in floodwater, but happy to see her son.
“The water was up to the windows, and I heard her screaming inside,” Lauder said. “It was a scare and a sigh of relief at the time – a scare thinking she might be hurt, a sigh of relief knowing that there was still air in her lungs.”
Lauder was able to bring his mother to safety as floodwaters began to recede.
Hospitals in Florida have been experiencing “significant pressure” on capacity since Ian hit, said Mary Mayhew, president and CEO of the Florida Hospital Association.
Emergency departments have sustained damage, staffing has been impacted as many hospital workers have been displaced or lost their vehicles in the hurricane, and facilities lost reliable access to water.
