Florida deaths rise to 47 amid struggle
to recover from Ian
Associated Press,
by
Rebecca Santana
&
Meg Kinnard
Original Article
Posted By: earlybird,
10/2/2022 11:38:48 AM
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Rescuers evacuated stunned survivors on a large barrier island cut off by Hurricane Ian and Florida’s death toll climbed sharply, as hundreds of thousands of people were still sweltering without power days after the monster storm rampaged from the state’s southwestern coast up to the Carolinas.
Florida, with nearly four dozen reported dead, was hit hardest by the Category 4 hurricane, one of the strongest to make landfall in the United States. Flooded roadways and washed-out bridges to barrier islands left many people isolated, amid limited cellphone service and a lack of basic amenities such as water, electricity and the internet.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Daisymay 10/2/2022 11:47:14 AM (No. 1293384)
So sad. But then, if another Hurricane came to that area next year or a couple years from now, there are always going to be people who refuse to evacuate. I don't understand why! Sitting on those Islands make you the first to get slammed. It's amazing that any of them survived this Storm!
6 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
DVC 10/2/2022 12:12:24 PM (No. 1293429)
A shame. How many could have made it if they had evacuated? Staying on a barrier island when a major hurricane is coming is absolutely foolish, very ill considered. Many times barrier islands are inundated by many feet, huge waves breaking right overhead.
In one 1920s hurricane a sailing ship was off shore of Miami, and of course, had no warning. They put out sea anchors and then as they were blown into shallower water all their actual anchors, and yet the anchors didn't hold, they dragged these anchors in the darkness. In the middle of the storm they saw palm fronds in the water, expected to crash on shore at any time. Finally the winds subsided and the dawn broke. They discovered that they were in Biscayne Bay at Miami, having floated and dragged anchors OVER Key Biscayne.
You don't stay on barrier islands in a hurricane.
6 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
JackBurton 10/2/2022 12:21:32 PM (No. 1293449)
Not mentioned in the article... barrier islands are hard to evacuate... usually only by one bridge.
This time, the hurricane was forecast to hit Florida to the North, in Tampa. Great call, weather forecasters.
I have a buddy whose home is 80 miles from Ft. Myers. No damage. I'll bet the people on SAnibel felt, and had reason to feel, safe with the forecast being what it was.
There's another post, I think on this page, showing helicopter rescue of people. Some of the houses on Sanibel appear undamaged and dry. Remember that the news people will always show you the very worst damage.
5 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Hazymac 10/2/2022 12:27:51 PM (No. 1293461)
Three days before Ian was due to strike, my area was in the center of the cone, and I'm in Evacuation Zone A. I booked and paid for a motel room twenty miles away, and prepared to go. As the storm began turning east toward Florida's southwest coast, I came to the conclusion that we would be okay here, ate the cost of the room, and stayed home. Renting the motel was insurance, and was worth it. I had a place to go if I needed to go. We were fortunate, if not lucky. Farther south in the county, St. Petersburg had near hurricane force winds, vicious rain, and power outages, simply because St. Pete was thirty miles closer to the storm.
Sanibel, Captiva, and Boca Grande are three of my all time favorite places. Seeing all the damage there did not do my heart any good. I hope those folks are okay. Nature is more powerful than we could imagine. Anyone along the coast might have lost everything. Our existences in these coastal paradises are contingent on things well outside our control.
11 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 10/2/2022 2:15:25 PM (No. 1293576)
I hope everyone on the barrier islands has been accounted for and/or brought to the mainland. They are in for a very long ordeal. To repair the causeway to Sanibel is a mega project and will take a couple of years. Starting a ferry service might be feasible to buy some time for those locals with properties there to recover valuables and to begin repairing infrastructure and services.
DeSantis and team are on it. Right guy for the right job. He has the right people around him. His re-election will be a mega-landslide.
5 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Omen55 10/2/2022 2:41:21 PM (No. 1293591)
Yet being hit by a hurricane in FL is safer then attending a soccer game in Indonesia.
You can't make this stuff up!
1 person likes this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
earlybird 10/2/2022 3:49:27 PM (No. 1293669)
Thank you, #7. Glad you are safe and here with us. Reports from those on the ground are so valuable. A relief from the recliner quarterbacks...
3 people like this.
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Slide show of 24 photos. So many elderly in a place where they sought sunshine. So sad.