Florida facing massive hurricane recovery
CHARLESTON, South Carolina: Florida and the Carolinas, hit by one of the fiercest storms in United States history, faced a massive recovery yesterday as remnants of Hurricane Ian threatened further flooding along the Eastern Seaboard while leaving tens of billions of dollars in damage in its wake.
The number of confirmed deaths from Ian rose to at least 50, most in Lee County, Florida, which bore the brunt of the storm when it slammed ashore on the state’s Gulf Coast on Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane packing maximum sustained winds of 150 miles (240km) per hour.
The death toll is expected to climb as floodwaters recede and search teams reach more areas initially cut off by the storm.
As of Saturday, some 10,000 people were reported unaccounted for in Florida, according to the state’s emergency management director, who said that many of those were probably safe in shelters or otherwise unreachable because of power and phone outages.
As the full extent of devastation came into clearer focus three days after Ian made US landfall, officials said some of the heaviest damage appeared to have been inflicted by raging winddriven ocean surf.
New satellite images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) showed beach cottages and a motel building that lined the shores of Florida’s Sanibel Island had been demolished by Ian’s storm surge. Although most homes appeared to still be standing, roof damage to all was evident.
Surveys from the ground showed that the barrier island, a popular tourist getaway that was home to about 6,000 residents, was left utterly ravaged.
‘‘It’s all just completely gone,’’ Sanibel city manager Dana Souza said.
‘‘Our electric system is pretty much destroyed, our sewer system has been damaged badly and our public water supply is under assessment.’’
The island’s link to the mainland was severed by breaches to Sanibel’s causeway bridge, further complicating recovery efforts, Souza said.
After waning to a tropical storm by the end of its march across Florida to the Atlantic, Ian regained hurricane strength and pummelled coastal South Carolina on Friday, sweeping ashore near Georgetown, north of the historic port city of Charleston, with sustained winds reaching 85mph (140kmh).
President Joe Biden has approved a disaster declaration for Florida, saying Ian was ‘‘likely to rank among the worst [storms] . . . in the nation’s history.’’ On Saturday, he declared an emergency in North Carolina. — Reuters