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FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Individuals kayaking down streets that have been satisfactory only a day or two earlier. Tons of of hundreds with out energy. Nationwide Guard helicopters flying rescue missions to residents nonetheless stranded on Florida’s barrier islands.
Days after Hurricane Ian carved a path of destruction from Florida to the Carolinas, the hazards continued, and even worsened in some locations. It was clear the street to restoration from this monster storm will probably be lengthy and painful.
And Ian was nonetheless not carried out. The storm doused Virginia with rain Sunday, and officers warned of the potential for extreme flooding alongside its coast, starting in a single day Monday.
Ian’s remnants moved offshore and shaped a nor’easter that’s anticipated to pile much more water into an already inundated Chesapeake Bay and threatened to trigger essentially the most vital tidal flooding occasion in Virginia’s Hampton Roads area within the final 10 to fifteen years, stated Cody Poche, a Nationwide Climate Service meteorologist.
The island city of Chincoteague declared a state of emergency Sunday and strongly beneficial that residents in sure areas evacuate. The Japanese Shore and northern portion of North Carolina’s Outer Banks have been additionally prone to be impacted.
Not less than 68 folks have been confirmed useless: 61 in Florida, 4 in North Carolina and three in Cuba.
With the dying toll rising, Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Administration Company, stated the federal authorities was able to assist in an enormous approach, focusing first on victims in Florida, which took the brunt of one of many strongest storms to make landfall in america. President Joe Biden and first girl Jill Biden plan to go to the state on Wednesday.
Flooded roadways and washed-out bridges to barrier islands left many individuals remoted amid restricted cellphone service and a scarcity of fundamental facilities akin to water, electrical energy and the web. Officers warned that the state of affairs in lots of areas isn’t anticipated to enhance for a number of days as a result of the rain that fell has nowhere to go as a result of waterways are overflowing.
Fewer than 700,000 houses and companies in Florida have been nonetheless with out electrical energy by late Sunday, down from a peak of two.6 million.
Criswell advised “Fox Information Sunday” that the federal authorities, together with the Coast Guard and Division of Protection, had moved into place “the most important quantity of search and rescue property that I feel we’ve ever put in place earlier than.”
Nonetheless, restoration will take time, stated Criswell, who visited the state Friday and Saturday to evaluate the injury and discuss to survivors. She cautioned that risks stay with downed energy strains in standing water.
Greater than 1,600 folks have been rescued statewide, in keeping with Florida’s emergency administration company.
Rescue missions have been ongoing, particularly to Florida’s barrier islands, which have been minimize off from the mainland when storm surges destroyed causeways and bridges.
The state will construct a short lived visitors passageway for the most important one, Pine Island, DeSantis stated Sunday, including that an allocation had been accepted for Deportment of Transportation to construct it this week and development might begin as quickly as Monday.
“It’s not going to be a full bridge, you’re going to should go over it in all probability at 5 miles an hour or one thing, but it surely’ll not less than let folks get in and off the island with their autos,” the governor stated at a information convention.
Coast Guard, municipal and personal crews have been utilizing helicopters, boats and even jetskis to evacuate folks over the previous a number of days.
In rural Seminole County, north of Orlando, residents donned waders, boots and bug spray to paddle to their flooded houses Sunday.
Ben Bertat discovered 4 inches (10 centimeters) of water in his home by Lake Harney after kayaking there.
“I feel it’s going to worsen as a result of all of this water has to get to the lake” stated Bertat, pointing to the water flooding a close-by street. “With floor saturation, all this swamp is full and it simply can’t take any extra water. It doesn’t appear to be it’s getting any decrease.”
Elsewhere, energy remained knocked out to not less than half of South Carolina’s Pawleys Island, a seashore neighborhood roughly 75 miles (115 kilometers) up the coast from Charleston. In North Carolina, the storm downed timber and energy strains.
Related Press reporters Rebecca Santana in Ft. Myers; Brendan Farrington and Anthony Izaguirre in Tallahassee; David Fischer in Miami; Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Va.; and Richard Lardner in Washington contributed to this report.
For extra AP protection of Hurricane Ian: apnews.com/hub/hurricanes
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