Death toll soars after Hurricane Ian devastates Florida

A woman carries her belongings down a flooded street in the Orlovista neighborhood following Hurricane Ian on October 1, 2022 in Orlando, Florida

Aerial images show devastating destruction of homes, piers, bridges and boats after Hurricane Ian swept through Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel in Florida.

The death toll from Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States, soared above 40 Saturday, as President Joe Biden heads to Florida later in the week to survey the devastation.

Shocked Florida communities were only just beginning to face the full scale of the destruction, with rescuers still searching for survivors in submerged neighborhoods and along the state's southwest coast.

The confirmed number of storm-related deaths rose to 44 statewide, the Florida Medical Examiners Commission said late Saturday, but reports of additional fatalities were still emerging county by county -– pointing to a far higher final toll.

In the coastal state of North Carolina, the governor's office confirmed four deaths related to Ian there.

In Florida's Lee County on Saturday, rescuers and ordinary citizens in boats were still saving the last trapped inhabitants of the small island of Matlacha. Debris, abandoned vehicles and downed trees littered the pummeled hamlet's main street and surroundings that are dotted by colorful wooden houses with corrugated roofs.

Sitting in the shadow of a deserted Matlacha house, Chip Farrar told AFP that "nobody's telling us what to do, nobody's telling us where to go."

Sixteen migrants were missing from a boat that sank during the hurricane, according to the US Coast Guard. Two people were found dead and nine others rescued, including four Cubans who swam to shore in the Florida Keys.

In Fort Myers Beach, a town on the Gulf of Mexico coast which took the brunt of the storm, Pete Belinda said his home was "just flipped upside down, soaking wet, full of mud."

It was later downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, and it was dissipating over Virginia late Saturday.

CoreLogic, a firm that specializes in property analysis, said wind-related losses for residential and commercial properties in Florida could cost insurers up to $32 billion, while flooding losses could reach $15 billion.

- Rescues continue - 

DeSantis reported that hundreds of rescue personnel were going door-to-door "up and down the coastline."

Two hard-hit barrier islands near Fort Myers -- Pine Island and Sanibel Island -- were cut off after the storm damaged causeways to the mainland.

A handful of restaurants and bars reopened in Fort Myers, giving an illusion of normalcy amid downed trees and shattered storefronts.

Electricity was gradually returning, mainly in Havana, but many homes remain without power.

Human-induced climate change is resulting in more severe weather events across the globe, scientists say.

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