i 75 south through charlotte county is open and flowing. portions of lee county, they're still looking at. as you know some of those areas cape coral, city of fort myers, they got really, really inundated and really devastated by this storm. so the hope is that all of 75 will be open. but most of it is open and it gives us what we need to be able to continue to move supplies into the area. we have 100 engineers on-site to do bridge inspections and they were in teams of two as a ss the damage and they can ensure safety, then bridges can be safely reopen. we do have reports of structural damages to bridges such as the bridge going onto sanibel island. island. i anticipate there will likely be of the bridges that it suffered damage. once bridges are inspected and determined to be safe, they will be reopened as soon as possible. we know sanibel causeway, we also know pine island bridge. those two are not passable and they're going to require structural rebuild. right now if you look in the central florida you are looking at potential major flood

you would be looking at the barrier islands, lee, charlotte counties, some of the coast even in collier county and as you go inland in kind of that fort myers, charlotte county juncture where you have these inlets and the harbor. those areas, because the storm surge can come at a barrier island. it is there. the water is just building up. and so you see that. they were absolutely consistent with kevin posted. we have it in our room the inundation map from 24 hours ago. what reprojected and what you will see is some of those areas you go inland even many blacks and massive -- i think if you look what's going on it will be the communities in lee and charlotte counties that are close to those bodies of water that probably suffered the most severe flooding. and there are people that had -- the coast guard has had people that were in their attic and got saved off their rooftop in those areas because of the flooding. so that's pretty clear that was really -- you also have -- normally we would say having 3 or 4 feet of flooding was a big deal. you see that in north port, southern parts of sara

you left charlotte county because of the evacuation and you're in pembroke in broward county. you're in touch with folks back home as charlotte county, punta gorda, port charlotte took a very hard hit. what do you know, number one, human life? any reports at all of fatalities back in the county? >> thank you for having me on. i really appreciate you getting the messaging out. unfortunately, we do have six confirmed fatalities at this time. we for our wind damage. our hearts go out to them for all the flooding they've had. this is unprecedented and i was in punta gorda through hurricane charlie. so that was devastating. this is so much bigger. it is affecting so many more people. to give you an idea, our four shelters have had to be evacuated because there's been too much structural damage. of course, the power is out as it is in many places around the state. and we have no running water to charlotte county or the city of punta gorda. we have main breaks, we have other issues we're dealing with. so it is so large, so all-encompassing, this is new territory for all of us. we're

here's a public information officer for charlotte county.o much for being with us at this hour. when i ask you about pensacola and there was -- it was slam so hard yesterday and today. what are you hearing about a threat to human life, injuries and damage assessments so far? i know it's early, but what are you hearing? >> we are starting to hear some of the damage coming into. our first responders are off the streets right now and we are just waiting for the winds to subside, so where it's safe for us to go out there. once that happens, we'll hit the streets, we'll have our public words departments there. they can go in and know the main artery, so they will get those clear. our first responders will be right behind them doing assessments, doing search and rescue operations and that's the type of activity out there. public works crews will be clearing the roads so we can operate and our message is the same. stay off the roads, i know people want to get out there and see, but right now it's dangerous and plus we don't want residents out there

county area have no water. one hospital in port charlotte had the roof rimmed you have and the e.r. flooded andseverely ill patients had to be evacuated. this was an epic storm, epic even before it hit. one area hit particularly hard is southern sarasota county, where 14 inches of rain fell in 12 hours for what's being classified as a thousand-year rainfall event. joining us now, the mayor of sarasota, erik arroyo. thank you for joining us. i guess first the very latest, please, from your city. what do you know? >> power just came back on for our region, and we know that it's scattered, so not everyone has their powers back on. our number-one priority remains the safety of our residents. there's 200 instances of downed trees or power lines that came down. there's phone number that will be provided in our social media report of new instances, if anybody needs to report a tree or a power line that came down. our barrier islands are still closed off. we've brought water back to the barrier islands. the next phase is to conduct an inspection to check if the water is adequate. we'll hold

talked about how the emergency responders have now said they're not going to be coming out, so charlotte countygorda county, you don't have a first responder to come out now. you are on your own. if you didn't make an evacuation, you have to shelter in place. if there is an emergency, it will be until those conditions let up that they start to resume. if you are in a situation where you are caught in a storm, there's a lot of things you can do. simple things like even filling up your bathtub, making sure you have use of the water heater if you run out of water. but staying in the center part of the home, as many walls as possible between you and the outdoors, is the only place you can really shelter. almost like you would for a tornado. you want to get to a low spot but not the basement, in the case of a hurricane, because you don't want to get flooded. you want to get into the center of the home with a lot of balls in between you. being out there in those conditions, you will be able to see, you mentioned how quickly it can deteriorate. this will happen in the manner of minutes we go to tropic

some damage in charlotte counties. but there's been a lot of the infrastructure that was able to make it through. i think now actually, lee, they got about 20% back with power which is quite frankly more than i would have anticipated this soon after such a major impact. we were able to go just kind of look around. we flew. we did a press conference. we met with some people that had lost homes and businesses. people that had been in that community for decades and decades. so it's -- it's sad to lose your belongings anyway. there's a lot of history in that part of the state and many parts of our state. you see that it's hard to just replace that. there will be things need to do infrastructure-wise, brings, some of the other stuff down there. but i was pleasantly surprised to see 48 hours after a massive impact i saw things opening. i saw all of this happening in lee county. so the quicker the broader population can get back to normal, that's going to make it easier to help those who have been displaced. we also towards d

. ♪ wayfair you've got just what i need ♪ >>> let's go now to charlotte county, florida, where punta is located. let me bring in the public information officer for the sheriff's office. claudette, tell us what your county is facing now. >> we're facing a tragedy. it's a national disaster down here. we have many of our community members without homes, without water, without electricity. so it's a very chaotic time right now. >> charlotte county commissioner says there's only one operating hospital right now in your area and it's at capacity and no one is being accepted in the emergency room because there isn't any room. tell us about that. >> well, we're facing a lot of issues right now between getting the necessities, the essentials to our folks, setting up those comfort stations to provide electricity, food, water, to the community, let alone still responding to those emergency-type calls, domestic disputes, those types of things. they arise in these scenarios. so the hospital being down is devastating. we have a lot of third-party entities, outside entities, who are coming to assis

so right now if you are here in charlotte county, you are largely on your own. keep in mind this storm is still 3 or 4 hours off the coast heading this way. we've heard a lot about category 4 or category 5. it doesn't matter whether it's 155 miles per hour or 157 miles per hour, the word used for both of those categories is catastrophe. catastrophic damage. damage enough to knock down houses, not just interior walls, but entire houses. we could see a storm surge of up to 12 feet. we could see 18 inches of rain in some areas. they have done a very aggressive job of evacuating people. a lot of people have not left. we still have power here and internet here but the gusts already beginning to pick up a little bit to knock you on your side. 200,000 people right now without electric power in florida. they've got 30,000 power workers ready to respond but they won't be able to respond until after the storm passes through. harris, back to you. >> harris: quickly and i'm hoping that you can hear everything i'm saying. i will repeat it if i need to. all along we've been t

unfortunately, our little town of inglewood which shares with charlotte county, we haven't seen the charlotte north port, that is our community along i-75, a lot of damage to public buildings, you know, school buildings, a lot of flooding, so what we're doing, we kept our evacuation centers, for the public open, and we're allowing anybody there, with destroyed homes, to come in, there and a lot of destroyed mobile homes. communication is out. power is out. phones are out. so we've actually just brought in an amateur radio community, our sarasota county amateur radio emergency services, and they're set up out here, on the eoc, with a tent up, i have an amateur person at the eoc of northport and we're communicating, we're in the process of getting high water vehicles, resources down there, and then the other thing we're doing is kind of tearing down our shelters, evacuation centers and anything that is not in the north, we are starting to close those and we are working on a plan to move people that skill tant go home to a red cross shelt hear we're establishing in several of those throughout th

as for right now, curfews are throughout the area, including charlotte county, home to punta gorda. apped this afternoon on little gas april la island, a barrier island where 43 people refused to leave. the county is inundated with emergency calls. patrick, what is the latest? how are you? how is charlotte county doing tonight? >> well, we're still experiencing hazardous conditions here in charlotte county. our residents are still hunkered down, at least they should be. those who did not evacuate, and we hope most of our residents did, they're hunkered down away from the wind, away from the storm surge. but we do fear there is some catastrophic damage out there that we're going to see come morning time and come when the winds abate. >> what's the power situation? are you still experiencing power loss there? >> absolutely. we have, you know, somewhere around 95%, 98% outages in charlotte county. it's to be expected with storm that has winds as strong as ian does. >> and obviously much of the population in charlotte county is concentrated close to the shoreline. what's the storm surge

i want to turn to the communications manager for the charlotte county board of commissioners. looked like this wasn't going to be a fort myers/cape coral sort of thing. it looked like this was going right between north port and port charlotte it looked like it was beelining right for you. what was that like this morning, and how did you communicate with your people? >> it kept us guessing for the last 24-46 hours it sprung up the coast luke a corkscrew, and you were hoping you were on the right side of the arch unfortunately for the folks down in naples and fort myers, they got that storm surge, and we kind of escaped that for now and are hoping the storm heads out of our area before that tail can swing around and bring all that storm surge. >> brian, i was just watching maybe last hour, the back side of the eye wall was coming across and that was some of the worst looking stuff i have ever seen and i started trying to make calls to people and frankly couldn't get through, and i got quite worried. what do you know about what the back side of that eye did to punta gorda. >> i h

we have 12 unconfirmed fatalities in charlotte county. we have eight unconfirmed fatalities in collier county, and we are still processing through the situation with the hasty search that i mentioned before in lee county. now, let me talk about confirmation and unconfirmed. people die in disasters that have nothing to do with the disaster, right? the medical examiner is the one that makes that determination. they are the lead agency at the local level to determine when they investigate that this is either disaster-related or not disaster-related. if it's disaster-related we talked about it for three days. storm surge, rising water, things of that nature, or indirect the stuff that led up to it after the fact. so with that being said we have 12 unconfirmed fatalities in charlotte county, we have eight unconfirmed fatalities in collier county. one confirmed fatality in polk county. it brings us up to 21 people. we have an identified situation that was done during the hasty search of some fatalities. we do not know exactly how many were in th

lee county is in a difficult situation, charlotte. and see when they can get back on their feet, the damage has been so extensive, it is a difficult situation. we have received major emergency declaration for nine counties, i do expect more. i spoke with the president this morning, he offered supports, i told him thanks for this, because the storm moved inland and caused damage in center part of the state, we will be asking for those counties to be expanded and included, charlotte, collier, hillsborough, lee, manatee, and sarasota, allowing individuals to seek individual assistance from fema. you have people displaced due to catastrophic impact of hurricane ian, that will be something that is necessary, we have been granted 100% federal assistance, category a and b for 30 days to ensure we move quickly forward into this respons fema has activated assistance to those who qualify. go to fema.gov or call 1-800. make sure you take a picture of the waterline in your home. if you can show that we're able to get assistance to you faster. as p

he focused on hardy county, which right now is 99% without power. almost as bad, charlotte and lee county at 85% without power, de soto county, 85% without power. that is the predominant area being completely without power, any source of power, for cell phone use, for anything. rescuers are going door to door, but the issue as they look for any last-minute rescue tunltss is trying to help people get back on track and trying to get people to have power again. sarasota, collier, and manatee county also 50% without power. so that's a huge hit. that's a swath of area that is unusable until they can get people back online and get the power grid restored or get something temporary in place. again, we'll be monitoring this news conference. there are bridge inspections happening across the state right now. and as the governor said, rescuers are going door to door to see if there's anybody that still needs to be saved or is trapped or stranded. so that all is happening right now in southwest florida. the focus of course lee county, charlotte county, ft. myers being really the epicen

so multiple deaths from hurricane ian reported in charlotte county, florida. done to help people there. i'm going to talk to the county commissioner. that is next. desk jobs out there, but this is myappy place. there are millions of ways to make the most of your land. learn more at deere.com ever leave your clothes in the dryer and find a wrinkled mess? try downy wrinkle guard fabric softener! wrinkle guard penetrates deep into fibers, leaving clothes so soft, wrinkles don't want to stick around. make mornings smoother with downy wrinkle guard fabric softener. president biden signed the inflation reduction act into law this afternoon. ok, so what exactly does it mean for you? out of pocket costs for drugs will be capped. for seniors, insulin will be just $35. families will save $2,400 on health care premiums. energy costs, down an average of $1,800 a year for families. and it's paid for by making the biggest corporations pay what they owe. president biden's bill doesn't fix everything, but it will save your family money. >>> so hurricane ian really bringing se

how is charlotte county? >> compared to lee county i would say we are blessed.e were saved by not getting the storm surge. saved by not going through that quite frankly. they are suffering from it. we have had deaths. we have a tremendous amount of damage in my district which is in the western part of the county. it has been an eye-opener for many here and particularly the large number of new residents that we have in the area that have not experienced this type of a storm before. >> now when you move down from the north to get out of the cold, you have not been through a hurricane. at last count we heard ten deaths. is there an update to that? >> that is the last i heard last night at 7:00. we are not certain of the details at this point. we did have 300 9-1-1 calls when we couldn't respond. are people able to get back to their homes? >> yeah. some of the neighborhoods are still hard to maneuver through. i would caution people to be careful. there are people coming back. i saw numerous people going back out to the beach area yesterday. traffic was horrendous. n

category 4 hurricane it was so small it really only caused extensive damage in one or two counties, from charlotte through desoto county. we had tropical force storm winds when charley was zipping by ian is completely different it's slower moving hurricane it has affected more percentage wise in southwest florida than charley ever did >> i know people at wink tv, they're right along the caloosahatchee river and they're off the air. >> they are off the air. i believe the radio stations are off the air as well. this was a known event i knew that was going to happen. i've been there forever. i've seen it creep up with minor disturbances knowing we had a strong category 4 coming right up the caloosahatchee there was no doubt there would be a problem and the television station had a big bull's eye on its back. >> jim farrell, weather legend in southwest florida to you and your neighbors best of luck in the months and years ahead. >>> more hurricane coverage ahead. > plus, the warning for americans who are still in russia what vladimir putin may force them to do if they don't leave the country right now

number of efforts on the barrier islands to bring people to safety, particularly in lee county, but also in charlotte and in naples and collier county. you have people -- electrical, the power, they are all here, we have eric from florida power and light which will, he'll give an you have date what they are doing. from the minute they could get in here, they have been in here working on being able to get people connected again. we are also, i talked to two of the major ceos for the telecom companies about their restoration services, and fortunately, you know, some of their infrastructure has been ok. they do more -- our dem is putting mobile cell phone towers to help restore communications and in ordinant amount of food and water either here or is very close on the way. life safety of course is critical. anyone stranded on one of the barrier islands, make sure that they are safe, and i know here in charlotte any of the neighborhoods that experienced a lot of wind or water damage, these folks are there, they are working to make sure people are safe and that is true in lee and collier county as well. s

evacuations in charlotte county. what could you tell us. >> they've been under way for the last 24 hours. they are evacuating zone a which is the coastal communities and barrier islands. 140,000 people under evacuation orders. a couple of hours ago four shelters opened up here in charlotte county. they could only hold about 4,000 people so they're not sure where the rest of the people go to when they evacuate but they need to get out of town. you can't talk about hurricane ian without talking about charlie from 2004. buzz that was supposed to go to tampa and barreled through here in charlotte and through punta gorda, and so a lot of people still remember what happened. we just spoke with the director of the emergency operations center in charlotte county and we talked about the concern for storm surge because they're expecting about four to seven feet of storm surge here in this area. and they know what happened back in 2004 and this is what he had to tell me. >> storm surge is always one of the largest concerns here

charlotte, floridida. we will speak with the county's emergency management director next.athfitter.com to book your free consultation. it seems like things are falling apart lately. the economy. the market... everything. but upwork lets you strategically hire talent to weather all ups and downs your business might go through. look at all that talent. ♪ i got tai last december. i've spent almost every minute with her since. when i first brought her home, she was eating little brown pieces in a bag and it was just what kind of came recommended. i just always thought, “dog food is dog food” i didn't really piece together that dogs eat food. as soon as we brought the farmer's dog in, her skin was better, she was more active, high-quality poops. if i can invest in her health and be proactive, i think it's worth it. see the benefits of fresh food at betterforthem.com >>> breaking news, hurricane ian is now an extremely dangerous category 4 storm, slowly churning toward florida's west coast, the gulf coast, with sustained winds of 155 miles per hour. that is the slimmest of margi

we have 12 unconfirmed fatalities in charlotte county. we have eight unconfirmed fatalities in collier county. and we are still processing through the situation with the hasty search that i mentioned before in lee county. now, let me talk about confirmation and unconfirmed. people die in disasters that have nothing to do with the disaster, right, so the medical examiner is the one that makes that determination, they are the lead agency at the local level to determine when they investigate, that this is either disaster related or not disaster related. if it's determined to be disaster related and you've heard the governor and i talk about this for three or four days, direct death, storm surge, rising water, or indirect the stuff that led to it after the fact. with that being said 12 unconfirmed fatalities in charlotte county. we have eight unconfirmed fatalities in collier, one confirmed fatality in polk county. so that brings us up to 21 total. we do have an identified situation that was done during the hasty search of some fatalities. we

punta gorda, in charlotte county, the metropolitan area was fourth fastest growing area in the entire country from 2020 to 2021, july of both years, fort myers sixth fastest growing city during those years, tens of thousands of people who have never had to prepare for this type of hurricane or storm and in particular when you -- people sometimes have never experienced it, don't understand why someone would try to hufrpger down and stay in their home, but charlotte county is one of the oldest counties in the country in terms of age. median age is over 60, just last year, so a lot of times and you have seen elderly individuals being carried out of their homes just in some video we've had, it is because it is very hard to move them. families are concerned about putting them in a shelter where they might not get the best of c care. that will be some of what we see in the coming hours and days. >> harris: i saw you nodding to that, shelters are a last resort, but they are a place for people to go to, but if you have needs like dagen is explaining, it is a place to go hunker while the storm

stay inside as the storm approaches and wreaks havoc, pray for the charlotte county community and the rest of florida as we toss it over to "america reports." >> john: any moment now we are expecting an update from florida governor ron desantis as the eyewall of hurricane ian begins to move on shore bringing with it the potential for catastrophic damage. hello, john roberts in washington. sandra, welcome back. >> sandra: good to be with you, sandra smith in new york. "america reports," a quickly developing situation, ian expected to make landfall between 2 and 4:00 p.m. right now packing top winds of 155 miles an hour. that is just a couple miles shy of a category 5 hurricane. >> john: when you get that high it does not make much of a difference. forecasters warning of the storm surge could be as high as 18 feet as the eyewall comes on shore. >> sandra: an hour out from when it is expected to make landfall, 300,000 people are without power as the early stages of the storm rip away power lines. we have team coverage for you beginning now across florida for the next two hours. >> john:

sho charlotte county.cended to south florida. we are bringing people in safety in lee county but also charlotte and in naples and collier county. and you have people, the electrical, the power, they're all here. we have eric solaji from florida power and light who will give an update. from the minute they could get in here, they've been in here working on being able to get people connected again. i've talked to to ceos from telecom companies about their restoration services, and fortunately some of their infrastructure has done okay. they do more -- or dem is putting the mobile cell phone towers to be able to help restore communications, and we've got an enormous amount of food and water that is either here or very close on the way. life safety, of course, is critical. anyone stranded on one of those barrier islands, we want to make sure that they're safe. and i know here in charlotte, any of the neighborhoods that experienced a lot of wind or water damage, these folks are there. they're working to make su

we have one confirmed fatality and pulled county. 12 unconfirmed fatalities in charlotte county. we have eight unconfirmed fatalities in collier county and we are processing through the situation with that hasty search in lee county. let me talk about confirmation and unconfirmed. people die in disasters that have nothing to do with the disaster. so the medical examiner is the one that makes that determination. they are the lead agency at the local level ... >> the storm just hours away from hitting south carolina. i want to update you on what we've done since i last spoke to you 24 hours ago. i've directed every possible action be taken to save lives and get help to survivors because every single minute counts. it's not just a crisis for florida. it's an american crisis. and i've spoken to governor desantis on multiple occasions as well as this morning as well as mayors and county officials republicans and democrats from places most affected and i spoke with governor mcmaster in south carolina this morning as well. last night i received a request for emergency declaration from go

i was speaking with the sheriff down in charlotte county and while most people did leave, they had a small number of people that just wanted to hunker down and at the end of the day, that's a decision they made knowing they had the ability to evacuate and knowing what the stakes were. nevertheless, safety, life safety, operations will commence as soon as its safe to be able to identify people who maybe in harm's way and in need of assistance and kevin will say -- i'll say a little bit about that but kevin will say more and we'll hear from fwc about their efforts that they have staged and ready to go. if you are still in southwest florida, stay inside until the storm passes. it may appear to be calm at some point and you may be in the eye of the storm and the backside of that will get very, very nasty. the storm is expected to move across central florida and exit daytona beach sometime on thursday. we've already seen around the state tornado warnings issued, far from where the hurricane is entering in southwest florida and those warnings will likely to continue until this finally leav

the islands in charlotte county.bviously there were a lot of calls coming in as a storm was really raging yesterday. people who did not evacuate were hunkered down. there was a storm surge and a lot of apprehension understandably, when initially the first responders came this morning, people would wave them down. whether they were by helicopter, boat, or high water vehicle. now what they are finding is in places like sanibel, most of the residents are weeping thank you for coming but say they are fine. that they are staying put now. i think there are going to be issues with being on some of those islands because they are not going to have services like we expect for quite some time given the limitations of transportation. but nevertheless that is a sign that some of the folks who did write it out are stabilized in their homes. first responders are doing targeted searches, going home my home, searching if people are ok. when responding to specific reports if they are missing loved ones. there will of course be many mo

there has been some damage in lee and some in charlotte counties.t of infrastructure able to make it through. so i think now actually, lee has 20% back power and that is more than i would have anticipated after such a major impact. we were able to go and look around. we flew, we met with some people that lost homes and businesses. you know, people that have been in the community for decades and decades. so it is sad to lose your belongings anyways, of course, but there's a lot of history in that part of the state in many parts of the state. so you see, it is hard to just replace that. there are things we need to do infrastructure wise, bridges and some of the other stuff down there. i was pleasantly surprised to see 48 hours after a massive impact, i saw publics reopening. i saw all of this happening in lee county. so the quicker that the broader population can get back to normal, that is going to make it easier to help those who have been displaced. we also tore over in central florida with the seminole county sheriff's office, some of the f. and i

the current track has the storm making landfall in charlotte, county. counties, it's no longer possible to safely evacuate. it's time to hunker down and prepare for this storm. this is a powerful storm that should be treated like you would treat if a tornado was approaching your home. if you are out on the roads, get to a safe place as soon as possible. there is more than 200 shelters open in just the southwest florida region alone. we are already seeing bridge closures, the bridge is closed now from manatee to pinellas county. there are 40,000 power outages reported. outside of southwest florida crews are responding to those power outages. don't go outside in the eye of the storm. it's still dangerous. there's actually a calmness. if the center of the hurricane is right over you. you think maybe the storm has passed. that is not the case. it's still very discuss dangerous. there is possibility of tornadoes. it would also be very difficult to potentially get back into your home. so even if it seems calm, wait to make sure that the storm has actually pas

i just got back from surveying the damage in charlotte and lee counties. some of the damage was almost indescribable to see a house just sitting in the middle of the bay. it literally must've gotten picked up, flown because of the massive wind of water. there were cars floating in the middle of the water. some of the homes were total losses. i would say the most significant damage i saw was on fort myers beach. some of the homes were wiped out. the sun was just concrete slabs. coursers damages some of our infrastructure. particularly the sanibel causeway. there are breaks and that of multiple different areas. it was interesting the pylons on the water you had that part of the bridge that was actually good. it was the point it was on a sand bar the got totally wiped away. or from the mainland there is breaks there. that will require major, major overhaul and potentially a complete rebuild. they're going to look at and see. that is the only way on the island. the operations to help people there has been mostly by air. and all told surgeon rescue operations a

about two-thirds of this community was ordered to evacuate, two-thirds of charlotte county.ear if they is, buffalo. if not, you better hope they are in a safe place with a storm like this rolling through. >> what's making it more dangerous and potentially more deadly the national hurricane center reporting it's moving slowly, hurricane ian, only 8 miles per hour. that means it's hovering over your area for an extended period of time, potentially causing a lot more devastation and danger. go ahead and give us your sense. >> reporter: sorry, i couldn't hear you there. >> can you hear me now? >> reporter: i hear you. >> all right. it's moving very slowly, this hurricane, at 8 miles per hour according to the national hurricane center. that means it's hovering over punta gorda for an extended period of time, potentially causing a lot nor destruction and danger. is that what you sense? >> reporter: yeah, that's certainly what it feels like here. we were told this is a very slow-moving storm. and that's why we talk about hurricane charley because hurricane charley was a fast-moving

i-75 south through charlotte county is open and flowing. ou know, some of those areas, cape coral, stay of ft. myers, they got really, really inundated and really devastated by this storm. so the hope is that all of 75 will be open. but most of it is open and it gives us what we need to be able to continue to move supplies into the area. we have 100 engineers on-site to do bridge inspections, and they work in teams of two. as they assess the damage and they can ensure safety, then bridges can be safely reopened. now, of course, we do have reports of structural damages to bridges such as the bridge going on to sanibel island and i anticipate others will have suffered damage. once bridges arement inned and determined to be safe, they will be reopened as soon as possible. we know sanibel causeway and pine island bridge, those two are not passable and they are going to require structural rebuilds. right now, if you look in central florida, you're looking at potential major flooding in orange and seminole counties, st. john's river, all the way u

we have one confirmed fatality and pulled county. 12 unconfirmed fatalities in charlotte county. we have eight unconfirmed fatalities in collier county and we are processing through the situation with that hasty search in lee county. let me talk about confirmation and unconfirmed. people die

certainly in charlotte county and north fort myers which will be the epicenter of the hit.o when we come back tomorrow and the suspect comes up you on the great district of florida a lot of exasperation. >> jesse: are you satisfied with the brave -- or are you sad a lot of knuckle heads decided to ride it out. >> we have freedom in florida. we have freedom to be not so smart. and there is 31 people -- i talked to the charlotte county sheriff earlier today and there were 31 people that stayed on little gasparilla island which is a small barrier island. i thought to myself why would you do that with an 18-foot storm surge coming your way. unfortunately, i think we are going to see some catastrophic not only human tolls but property tolls from this storm and, hey, people have the freedom to make the decision, local government said to evacuate, especially from the barrier islands. most people did agree with that and move out. i had a lot of people even in the middle of the state that lived in fifth wheels or trailer homes or mobile homes that decided to move north. and that was

but in places like charlotte and lee counties or in other words, fort myers and cape coral restoring e a much tougher task. charlotte and lee reconnects are really going to likely have to be rebuilding of that infrastructure. and so there are alignment. there are crews that are on their way down right now , but that's going to be more than just connecting a power line back to back to a pole in orlando cruz had to evacuate a senior living facility because of that dangerous flooding. governor desantis says this was the case for at least two health care centers in the state. but the governor and the sheriff of lee county say there are deaths confirmed in the fourth myers area, though it's still unclear exactly how many president biden has now issued a major disaster declaration for at least nine counties in the state of florida, andre r. james. thank you. it's going to take days before rescue teams determine all the damage caused by this massive storm this morning. we're getting our first look at the only bridge leading to sanibel island west of fort myers. new images this morning showin

this is charlotte county where ian first made landfall. nearly as a category 5 storm yesterday.. many homes destroyed. mobile homes especially vulnerable here. those close to the water. look off to the right there. nothing left. rescues there are also underway. we'll bring you all of the new video as it comes in. ian is now bringing a path of destruction to duvall county, florida. the city of jacksonville is on high alert now. heavy rain and wind, flooding are a big problem there now. they have had a lot of recent rain. everything is weakened. and the damage has already begun. beaches are closed, the international airport there is shuttered. jonathan serrie is live for us in atlantic beach, florida. jonathan. >> if you look behind me, you can see the heavy surf coming in from the atlantic. you are looking at a public beach access between dunes. ordinarily people would be able to walk to the beach through this sandy path here but yesterday heavy equipment came in and shored it up with sand in hopes of keeping the water from spilling over. so far it's been working pretty well. we

in charlotte county if you are in any of those counties, it's no longer possible to safely evacuate. down and prepare for this storm. this is a powerful storm that should be treated like you would treat if a tornado was approaching your home if you're out on the roads get to a safe place as soon as possible. there's more than 200 shelters open. in just the southwest florida region alone. we're already seeing bridge closures. the skyway bridge is closed now going from manatee to pinellas county's, there's 40,000 power outages reported. but outside of southwest florida crews are responding to those power outages. don't go outside in the eye of the storm. it's still dangerous. there's actually a calmness if the center of the hurricane is right over you. you think maybe the storm has passed? um that's not the case. it's still very dangerous. there's possibilities of tornadoes. it would also be very difficult to potentially get back into your home. so even if it seems calm way to make sure that the storm has actually passed once the storm has passed , and it's safe to go outside. i heard

the commissioner of charlotte county.rn part of the county. and i believe where i am is going to be on the western wall. so i don't know that there will be reprieve where i am, but i can tell you here we're seeing downed tree limbs and oak trees, debris flying everywhere. i happen to have hurricane windows and shutters and i have some open so i can see what's going on. but this is a magnitude in this part of the county, we did not see with charlie and certainly did not see with irma. >> you talk about we've talked so much and heard so much from folks on the ground about charlie and irma. i know a lot of changes were made after charlie. you learn something from every storm. but this is so big it is moving so slowly. are you confident that some of the changes in the preparations that those will hold given the size? >> from a structural perspective, i think the builds will hold up to the wind. 2006, governor bush signed in the requirements to have window coverings or impact resistance windows. that was a certain step forward

we are not sure why lee county and charlotte county who were in danger zones did not take action.: so talk about what authorities say when you demand these prisons be evacuated? where do they get evacuated too? >> and charlotte county, we were contacted and told the jail itself -- we hear the building is 30 as quite a common line from prison and jail authorities. whetheor not that is true, it may even be true, not just the windfall we're worried about or [indiscernible] we heard stories of flooding in 2018 during hurricane. roof dame, shortage of staff and lack of access to health care. it is the days and sometimes weeks after the storm. authorities on top of that, considering risking the lives of their own staff as well as the people who are forced to stay there during incarcerations. amy: just to give some numbers, florida has the third greatest number of prisoners. california -- texas is number one with 100 -- close to 136,000. california is second with more than 97,000 prisoners. florida is number three with over 81,000 prisoners. this is from 2020. as you say, the issues are

the current track has the storm making landfall in charlotte county. y of those counties, it's no longer possible to safely evacuate. it's time to hunker down and prepare tor for the storm. this is a powerful storm that should be treated like you would treat if a tornado was aapproaching your home. if you're out on the roads, get to a safe place as soon as possible. there's more than 200 shelters open in just the southwest florida region alone. we're already seeing bridge closures. the skyway bridge is closed now going from manatee to pinellas counties. there's 40,000 power outages reported but outside of southwest florida, crews are responding to those power outages. don't go outside in the eye of the storm. cheryl: i'm going to to keep monitoring the comments from the governor for you and we want to let our viewers know you can stay with fox weather, there's 24/7 coverage on fox weather, get the app, go to foxweather.com. we'll stay on it for you. back over to you. the big concern you heard the governor say it here is those that didn't evacuate, you'v

>> we're seeing the eye wall of ian move on shore here in portions of lee and charlotte county.is where there's more storm surge than where you saw in naples. we're looking at 12 to 18 feet aboveground level. both from a perspective and wind perspective. the eye wall moving offshore now. hopefully people evacuated from the areas along the coast to safer locations inland. >> michael, what is the duration of the storm? we have been hearing how slow it's going to move once it hits land. how many days? >> if the center moves inland, it's moving about 9 miles per hour. we'll see a slowing of that forward speed. it's going to take the center across the peninsula. by the time we get to tomorrow evening, it's going to be along the coast. then it's going to turn back northward and approach the southeast coast. as we go through friday, we'll have a long duration event. it's going to be extremely heavy rainfall across central and north florida. we have hurricane warnings in effect on the east coast. storm surge warnings as wem. and the potential for a lot of storm surge from places like ja

, charlotte county does have a curfew in effect, since about tuesday. and that is going to continue on into the next couple of days, probably into the next week or so. there are some signs of folks trying to get some sort of routine back together here. there are some signs of trying to get back to somewhat of a normal life, if you will. right here at this gas station, there's a delivery that's being made. and just a few minutes ago, a fey highway patrol trooper also pulled into this gas station. there is a walmart just to the east of where we are. and the lights there did seem to be on. though the location itself did seem to still be closed. folks here are trying to get back to their homes, if they made it out here yesterday, and were able to get to them because of the receding floodwaters, they were able to get a look at some of the damage. but the further east you go, the higher likelihood is that your power might be back on and there might be one or two gas stations that might be back open. there was one of our way out yet back to tampa. that's where

bret, back to you. >> bret: steve harrigan live in charlotte county florida. thank you. florida's east coast did not get the worst of ian but still experiencing heavy rain and flooding there. correspondent jonathan's area is in atlantic beach tonight. good evening, jonathan. >> good evening, bret. we are experiencing heavy winds, the rain is picking up, and the big concern is what you see behind me, a lot of tourists coming out to look at the beach when lifeguards come out, they warned them away because the surf is very dangerous. flood water rescue teams are on standby as the national hurricane center predicts that the storm surge could be as high as 4-6 feet in this part of florida. atlantic beaches into ball county, which includes jacksonville, although there are no mandatory evacuations, the mayor is urging people to le flood-prone areas, including beaches and neighborhoods along the st. johns river. neighboring clay county has declared mandatory evacuation for securities along st. johns. in volusia county, a photo of one detective carrying a little girl to safety ou

>> we're in charlotte county.me here we're seeing complete destruction in a mobile home park. one after the other all the way down the street down the next street. everything gone. i spoke to a man over there. you can see him in his car smoking a cigarette. i said is this where you live? he said it's where i used to live. no more. he said his home cost $25,000. it is a complete loss. he will end up going back to new york. we have people here dealing with complete destruction at this point. as far as any rescue goes or any help or any aid, we haven't seen any movement at all on the ground. communication extremely difficult. people really seemed shell shocked. they're coming out of where they rode the night out. many rented rooms in luxury condos down the street there. they thought they were studier. he man said i loss every but i'm at least alive. people are holding hands and commiserate as we see over there people asking each other how they survived and how they got through it. now we have seen some helicopters ov

they have conducted over 500 rescues in lee and charlotte county. naples and collier county they have conducted 30 rescues as people was trapped on higher- level progress. they have a complete handle on who is there and who has remained and these mandatory evacuations only mean that if something happens they will not come and rescue you. >> it seems that we may have lost him and we will keep in touch with him as he makes his way to fort meyers if we can reestablish that connection. the scope live in orlando, florida. jesse tell us what you are seeing in orlando and how orlando has fared over the last 24 hours. >> reporter: for context we are more than 100 miles from where the hurricane first made landfall. but even here there are neighborhoods underwater. the biggest concern was rainfall and not the wind gusts. we got about half as much rain that was expected but still enough to create catastrophe. often the distance there is a basketball hoop out there and the standard hoop is 10 feet high. that should give you a rough idea of how high the water lev

the authorities in charlotte county believe they are in a position to respond once the hurricane passesorm surge is a whole other ball of wax here. >> kerry sanders, take care. thank you for being with us. >>> still ahead a closer look at the impact hurricane ian is possibly going to have and will have on florida's most densely populated ciies. we'll be going live to tampa. >>> first a check on where hurricane ian is and where it's headed, next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." watching diaz-balart reports. now, there's skyrizi. with skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months... and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections, or a lower ability to fight them, may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. ♪nothing is everything♪ talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. (vo the new iphone 14 pro is here. and right now business owners can get it on us at t-mobile. apple business essentials with apple

two on charlotte county, one in jasper county and one in landsberg. as of noon we have a total population of 119 volunteers in our shelters, capacity is 750 million so weare 50 percent of that capacity . all locations are resourced, tss staff, red cross volunteers, law enforcement and other volunteer organizations are standing by in that mission. there is zero medical need shelters open at this time and we recommend anyone who needs a shelter to bring blankets, sleeping bags, pillows, medicaid, hygiene items for special foods if you are on a restricted diet shelter information can be found at or ask would services. >> was sick yesterday we love our officers from the state 31 for service from those calls were primarily motorists. triple p and df are patrolling the highways. we will have. there with the expectation those calls with it. just to echo the price given by the secretary, with these increased traffic incidents, please stay off the roadways until the storm passes . >> thank you governor. doctor zeller, director of the south carolina health and