Tag: beaches

Nicole weakens to a tropical storm after striking Florida’s east coast as the first US hurricane in November in nearly 40 years | CNN

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CNN
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Nicole has weakened to tropical storm after making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane along the east coast of Florida early Thursday morning, lashing the region with heavy rain and dangerous storm surge as it became the first hurricane to strike the US in November in nearly 40 years.

The storm struck just south of Vero Beach with winds of 75 mph before weakening to a tropical storm shortly after, the National Hurricane Center said. It’s bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall to some areas hit by Hurricane Ian less than two months ago.

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Nicole’s colossal path has led to evacuations from some residential buildings deemed unsafe and at risk of collapse due to the storm’s impact. In addition to the cancellation of hundreds of flights and the shuttering of amusement parks, many schools, colleges and universities closed ahead of the storm.

Nicole’s colossal path has led to evacuations from some residential buildings deemed unsafe and at risk of collapse due to the storm’s impact. In addition to the cancellation of hundreds of flights and the shuttering of amusement parks, many schools, colleges and universities closed ahead of the storm.

In Volusia County, officials told people to leave more than 20 buildings found to be structurally unsound due to Ian’s impact in late September.

“There is a strong potential that one or more buildings will collapse during the storm,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood told CNN affiliate WESH-TV on Wednesday. “Right now, ground zero is here.

“We don’t want to end up like Surfside,” Chitwood added.

Part of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, crumbled to the ground in summer 2021, killing 98 people. The collapse was not storm-related.

Nicole, which also threatens to whip up tornadoes, is expected to weaken to a depression early Friday and become a post-tropical cyclone over the Southeast.

“Weakening will occur while Nicole moves over Florida,” forecasters at the hurricane center said.

On Wednesday evening, Nicole strengthened from a tropical storm into a hurricane, smashing into Grand Bahama Island with strong winds and dangerous storm surge, the National Hurricane Center in the US said. The Abacos, Berry Islands and Grand Bahama Island in the northwestern Bahamas remained under hurricane warnings early Thursday.

Because Nicole is a large storm, its impact will be felt well beyond its center, according to forecasters, who explained that people in its path should not focus on the exact track to prepare.

Here’s what to know:

Millions under hurricane warning: More than 5 million people are under hurricane warnings. Up to 8 inches of rain can drench eastern, central and northern portions of Florida. Plus, between 2 to 6 inches are expected from parts of the US southeast to the southern and central Appalachians and western mid-Atlantic through Friday, the hurricane center said.

Historic hurricane: Nicole’s landfall Thursday was historic because it became the latest in a calendar year a hurricane has ever struck Florida’s Atlantic coast. The storm’s landfall broke a previous record set by the Yankee Hurricane, which hit Florida’s east coast on November 4, 1935.

Unsafe buildings: Ahead of Nicole’s expected landfall in Florida, officials asked people to evacuate buildings deemed unsafe to withstand the storm. In New Smyrna Beach, officials determined some condos are unsound due to the erosion of a sea wall. And in Daytona Beach Shores, which is still reeling from Hurricane Ian’s impact, at least 11 buildings are at risk of collapse, according to Public Safety Department Director Michael Fowler. Volusia County officials evacuated 22 single homes deemed unsafe in the unincorporated area of Wilbur-by-the-Sea.

School closures and flight cancellations: Many school districts, colleges and universities have closed as the storm approaches, according to the Florida Department of Education. Orlando International Airport halted operations Wednesday afternoon, and Miami International Airport said cancellations are possible, but it does not plan on closing.

South Carolina should prepare: People across the state should prepare for the likelihood that Nicole could bring heavy rain and winds. “Given the uncertainty of the storm’s strength and path as it approaches South Carolina, residents need to have their personal emergency plans ready to go just in case we need to take safety precautions later in the week,” said Kim Stenson, who heads the state’s emergency management division.

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November 10, 2022
Lauren Conrad, Kristin Cavallari and Stephen Colletti reunite to talk ‘Laguna Beach’ | CNN

CNN
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Lauren Conrad and Kristin Cavallari have reunited on a podcast to talk all things “Laguna Beach.”

The former reality show co-stars joined Stephen Colletti for Cavallari and Colletti’s “Back to the Beach” podcast, which recaps the series in current time.

This week, Conrad was the guest, and admitted that while home sick with Covid, she rewatched the MTV series.

“Watching it was so much worse than I imagined it would be,” Conrad said. “It was really cringey.”

Cavallari and Conrad were frenemies on the series, and also had a mutual former boyfriend in Colletti.

“My take on it is, you and I never really had any beef,” Cavallari said on the podcast, adding that MTV edited the show to make it seem worse than it was.

Conrad responded with, “I mean, I don’t think we were, like, best friends. But we were like, ‘It’s fine.’”

“I mean, we had an issue with each other, but it had been squashed,” Conrad added.

The two confirmed that things between them are now fine.

Conrad admits some regrets from her time on the show.

“My biggest regret was, watching it, I called you a slut. I’m so sorry,” Conrad said to Cavallari. “Watching it, it was my, like, ‘Oh, I couldn’t believe I did that.’ Because I think where I’m at now, I would never call another woman that, or girl.”

Both Conrad and Cavallari have gone on to have successful businesses.

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November 9, 2022
Donald Trump’s Boeing 757 rehabbed and back in West Palm Beach | CNN Politics

CNN
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Whether Donald Trump is prepared to take-off on another bid for the presidency remains up in the air, but his fabled Boeing 757 is definitely getting off the ground.

According to flight data studied and analyzed by CNN and aviation experts consulted by CNN, Trump’s jet has spent several hours over the last week running pattern flights above a small airport in Lake Charles, Louisiana, likely testing various updated components before heading to the Palm Beach International Airport, where it arrived Wednesday evening. Trump has previously indicated that the plane would be in Louisiana for repairs.

The plane’s arrival in West Palm Beach comes less than three weeks before the 2022 midterm elections and with the political world on constant watch for Trump to announce another run for the White House. While Trump’s world has felt under siege with multiple investigations and legal actions open against him, the return of so-called “Trump Force One” to its home base could provide a jolt to Trump’s fans.

The arrival of the plane at the airport that’s just 15 minutes from Mar-a-Lago is a significant indicator that not only is it airworthy – the 31-year-old jumbo jet had been idle for the four years of Trump’s presidency and many months afterward – it may be getting prepped to assume its former life as Trump’s biggest campaign prop.

CNN has reached out to a representative for Donald Trump for comment on the plane’s activity and has not yet received a response. The plane appeared to be in use Saturday as Trump traveled to Texas for a rally, according to a tweet from Trump aide Dan Scavino Jr.

Trump’s jet has twice in recent days made a series of short flight loops at varying altitudes, taking off and landing at Chennault International Airport in Louisiana. Some of the flights lasted less than 10 minutes, according to the data, and did not go beyond altitudes of 3,000 feet. Others were longer, 20 to 30 minutes, at altitudes ranging from 9,000 to 23,000 feet.

“It is common after a plane has had upgrades – or other new equipment or general avionic tweaks – for pilots to make a series of test flights to ensure safety and function,” said Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board. “The series of passes at different altitudes, such as the ones completed in Louisiana, are indicative of standard checks.”

That the plane, which Trump purchased in 2010 from the late Microsoft founder Paul Allen, has been improved to the point of taking flight is a recent development. In March 2021, CNN was first to report Trump’s once omnipresent 757 was sitting idle on a tarmac at a small New York state airport with one engine shrink-wrapped, mechanically grounded. It remained just north of New York City at Stewart Airport in New Windsor, New York, for several more months before it was flown to Louisiana on November 1, 2021, according to flight tracker information obtained by CNN.

That flight was presumably made with an engine worthy enough for the plane to obtain a Special Flight Permit – or “Ferry Permit” – from the FAA, multiple experts told CNN. The permits allow registered planes to be approved for flight. According to FAA data, a reason for granting a ferry permit is for an aircraft to fly to a location where “repairs, alterations, or maintenance are to be performed, or to a point of salvage.”

CNN has requested a confirmation of the ferry permit issued for Trump’s plane, which is owned by DJT Operations LLC, from the FAA and has not yet received the information.

A standard passenger Boeing 757-200 series has about 228 seats. Trump’s custom 757 features 43 seats – along with a main bedroom, guest suite, dining room, VIP area and custom galley. Trump has mainly flown to-and-from various destinations on his much smaller, eight-seater, 1997 Cessna 750 Citation X. That plane does have a small Trump-family crest painted on the fuselage but lacks the giant Trump name on its outside.

According to flight records, when Trump is not on the Citation, he typically flies on chartered planes belonging to other people.

Yet in July of this year, the 757, a regular backdrop for Trump’s campaign appearances and rallies during the run-up to the 2016 election, was featured in a slick video posted by Eric Trump to social media. That video featured the 757 getting a new paint job at a hangar in Louisiana.

“She’s back,” he wrote.

In the caption of Eric Trump’s Instagram post of the video, the former President was quoted teasing the rebirth of his beloved private plane, saying the sparkly new exterior tune-up done so “Trump Force One” – the plane’s nickname – could be “back to the skies in the Fall of 2022, or maybe sooner.”

The reveal of the new paint job showed a fresh, gold “TRUMP” on the fuselage, and a new addition of an American flag on the tail. The paint job was completed in 26 days, according to Tyson Grenzebach, of Landlocked Aviation, who in a July interview with Louisiana Radio Network said his company did full “scuff, sand and paint” on Trump’s plane.

Though the interior, exterior and – as of Wednesday – the sky worthiness of Trump’s 757 appears to be updated, according to experts who spoke to CNN, the purpose of getting the plane ready for some sort of grand reveal near the midterms or a campaign announcement has yet to be confirmed by the former president.

For Trump, the plane is one of his prized possessions. He oversaw the hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars’ worth of renovations done to his prized possession shortly after he took ownership; any metal in the plane’s interior – lights, seat buckles, handles, latches, knobs – was plated in 24-karat gold.

In March of last year, following CNN’s story about the 757, Trump did release a statement confirming his plane was in “storage” and getting repairs.

“When completed, it will be better than ever, and again used at upcoming rallies!” wrote Trump wrote at the time.

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October 22, 2022
Exposure to ‘Blue Spaces’ Linked to Better Mental Health

Oct. 14, 2022 — Spending time in “blue spaces” — such as beaches, rivers, and lakes — as a child can have significant and lasting benefits for wellbeing throughout life, according to a new study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.

When exposed to blue spaces in childhood, people are more likely to revisit bodies of water in adulthood and appreciate the time spent in natural settings.

“Learning to swim and appreciate the dangers in terms of rip currents, cold temperatures, etc., is of course primary,” Mathew White, one of the study authors and a senior scientist at the University of Vienna, told The Guardian.

“But the message we are trying to get across is that to only teach children about the dangers of water settings may make them overly afraid of, and ill-equipped to benefit from, places that can also be hugely beneficial to their health and wellbeing as they grow up,” he said. “The vast majority of blue space visits — both for adults and children — do not involve getting wet, so there are also many advantages from spending time near water, not just in it.”

Researchers from the U.S. and a dozen other countries analyzed data from the BlueHealth International Survey for more than 15,000 people across 18 countries, examining the links between childhood exposure to blue spaces and adult wellbeing.

Participants recalled their experiences up to age 16, noting how often they visited blue spaces, how local they were, and how comfortable their parents or guardians were about allowing them to swim and play. They also discussed their recent contact with blue spaces and green spaces during the previous four weeks, as well as their mental health status during the previous two weeks.

Researchers found that more childhood exposure to blue spaces was associated with better adult wellbeing. They noted the results were consistent across all countries and regions.

Adults also had familiarity with and confidence around coasts, rivers, and lakes, as well as higher levels of joy around bodies of water and a greater propensity to spend recreational time in nature during adulthood. In turn, this lifted their mood and wellbeing.

“We recognize that both green and blue spaces have a positive impact on people’s mental and physical health,” Valeria Vitale, one of the study authors and a doctoral candidate at Sapienza University of Rome, told The Guardian.

In recent years, a growing number of studies have noted the benefits of spending time in nature, including both blue spaces and green spaces such as forests, parks, and gardens. The natural settings can increase people’s physical activity levels, boost mood and wellbeing, and lower stress and anxiety.

Vitale and colleagues noted that blue spaces, in particular, have unique sensory qualities such as wave sounds and light reflections that can improve mood, as well as leisure activities such as swimming, fishing, and water sports.

“We believe our findings are particularly relevant to practitioners and policymakers because of the nationally representative nature of the samples,” she said. “First, our findings reinforce the need to protect and invest in natural spaces in order to optimize the potential benefits to subjective wellbeing. Second, our research suggests that policies and initiatives encouraging greater contact with blue spaces during childhood may support better mental health in later life.”

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October 14, 2022
Noru became a super typhoon in 6 hours. Scientists say powerful storms are becoming harder to forecast | CNN

CNN
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Residents on the small resort island of Polillo are accustomed to severe weather – their island sits in the northeastern Philippines, on the edge of the Pacific Ocean where storms typically gather strength and turn into typhoons.

But even they were stunned by the intensity of Typhoon Noru, known locally as Typhoon Karding, that turned from a typhoon into a super typhoon in just six hours before hitting the region earlier this week.

“We’re used to typhoons because we’re located where storms usually land,” said Armiel Azas Azul, 36, who owns the Sugod Beach and Food Park on the island, a bistro under palm trees where guests drink coconut juice in tiny thatched huts.

“But everything is very unpredictable,” he said. “And (Noru) came very fast.”

The Philippines sees an average of 20 tropical storms each year, and while Noru didn’t inflict as much damage or loss of life as other typhoons in recent years, it stood out because it gained strength so quickly.

Experts say rapidly developing typhoons are set to become much more common as the climate crisis fuels extreme weather events, and at the same time it will become harder to predict which storms will intensify and where they will track.

“The challenge is accurately forecasting the intensity and how fast the categories may change, for example from just a low-pressure area intensifying into a tropical cyclone,” said Lourdes Tibig, a meteorologist and climatologist with the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities.

The same happened in the United States last week when Hurricane Ian turned from a Category 1 storm into a powerful Category 4 hurricane before making landfall along the southwestern coast of Florida on Wednesday.

Such rapid intensification, as it’s known in meteorological terms, creates challenges for residents, authorities and local emergency workers, including those in the Philippines, who increasingly have no choice but to prepare for the worst.

When Azul received warning that Typhoon Noru was approaching the Philippines last Saturday, he began his usual preparations of setting up his generator and tying down loose items.

At that stage, Noru was predicted to make landfall on Sunday as the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane.

But as the storm grew closer, it strengthened into a super typhoon, the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane, making landfall Sunday evening with ferocious winds that lifted waves and lashed properties on the shoreline.

Azul said his community was fortunate to have TV signal in the resort, and as soon as they found out that the typhoon was much stronger than forecast, his staff brought in all the bistro’s outdoor furniture and tied down the roofs of their guesthouses, while local government units evacuated people living near the shore.

“But other parts of the island which don’t have internet connectivity and only rely on radio signals might not have got the message in time,” he said.

The typhoon damaged the resort town, as strong winds toppled beach huts and damaged nearby fishing cages.

Azul added that coconut trees planted across the island about a decade ago after Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy) battered the area had just started to bear fruit but were now completely wiped out.

“We have to pick up the pieces, and rebuild again,” he said.

On the main island of Luzon, Noru left a trail of destruction in the province of Nueva Ecija, known as the “rice granary” of the country.

Ruel Ladrido, 46, a farmer owner in Laur, Nueva Ecija, said his rice fields were not flooded but strong winds damaged his crops.

“It didn’t rain hard near me, but the winds uprooted some of my fields. It will affect our harvest this season, but what can we do? I don’t know the extent of the damage yet, but we’ll have to plant again,” he told CNN on Tuesday.

As of Friday, 12 people had died in the aftermath of Noru, including five rescue workers in Bulacan province, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

The estimated damage to agriculture ballooned to some 3 billion Philippine pesos (about $51 million), affected 104,500 farmers and fisher folk, and damaged over 166,630 thousand hectares of crop land, according to the NDRRMC.

The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, is already vulnerable to typhoons, but as sea levels rise and ocean temperatures warm, the storms expected to become more powerful, according to research published in 2018.

The study found that the stronger typhoons carry more moisture and track differently. They are also “aggravated by sea level rise, one of the most certain consequences of climate change.”

A separate study published last year, by researchers at the Shenzhen Institute of Meteorological Innovation and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, found that typhoons in east and southeast Asia now last between two and nine hours longer and travel an average of 100 kilometers (62 miles) further inland than they did four decades ago. By the end of the century, they could have double the destructive power.

As such, it’ll become more difficult to forecast their track and predict ones that will quickly gain strength, or undergo rapid intensification – defined as when wind speeds increase by at least 35 miles per hour (56 kilometers per hour) in 24 hours or less.

Although rare, the Philippines is no stranger to this phenomenon as 28% of all tropical cyclones that made landfall in the country dating back to 1951 underwent rapid intensification based on official data, according to Gerry Bagtasa, a professor with the University of the Philippines’ Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology.

Bagtasa said factors such as high moisture, warm ocean surface temperatures and low wind shear determine the scale of rapid intensification, but those weather readings “don’t have to be extraordinary in their values” to create rapid intensification.

He remarked that Typhoon Noru’s track across the Philippine Sea before making landfall was “just average for this season” and the wind shear – or the change of wind speed and strength with height in the atmosphere – was not extraordinarily low.

Bagtasa also said forecasters find it difficult to predict rapid intensification in the Pacific, because even though satellite monitoring has improved, there isn’t enough data to forecast worsening weather events.

“There are also many unprecedented events happening recently worldwide, and since forecasters typically rely on their past experiences, new events can ‘throw off’ forecasts, so to speak,” he said.

Mirian Abadilla, a doctor and municipal health officer in Cabangan, Zambales province, on the Philippine island of Luzon, has been involved in her community’s disaster management response since 1991.

She says in that time, typhoons have become harder to forecast, and her community has no choice but to prepare for the worst.

“The typhoons are definitely getting stronger because of climate change, and getting harder to predict,” she said. “But each time we get hit with a typhoon, we try to keep improving our disaster response – that’s the only way for us to stay alert.”

She said local governments held meetings as Typhoon Noru approached the coast to go over relief and rescue plans.

“Filipinos are getting better at disaster preparedness … because we have to be,” she said.

Every province, city, municipality and barangay in the Philippines is required to follow national disaster risk reduction and management system under an act imposed in 2010 to address the island nation’s climate vulnerability.

Local governments must conduct preemptive evacuation based on the projected warnings from the national weather department, and it’s recommended they hold regular disaster rescue drills with responders and host briefing seminars for communities.

In a press briefing on Monday, Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. praised local government units for “doing a good job” in explaining the situation to the local population as Noru approached, and for carrying out evacuations that may have prevented mass casualties.

But he also seemed to acknowledge the unpredictability of the storms that regularly threaten the Philippine coast, and the need to always be prepared.

“I think we may have gotten lucky at least this time, a little bit,” Marcos Jr. said.

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October 1, 2022
As Ian continues to weaken farther inland, recovery efforts are underway in Florida and South Carolina | CNN

Editor’s Note: Affected by the storm? Use CNN’s lite site for low bandwidth. You also can text or WhatsApp your Ian stories to CNN +1 332-261-0775.

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As post-tropical cyclone Ian moves inland across North Carolina early Saturday, communities in Florida and South Carolina are recovering after the deadly storm brought torrential rain, powerful winds and cataclysmic flooding over the course of three terrifying days.

Ian slammed into southwest Florida as a severe Category 4 hurricane Wednesday, packing sustained winds of 150 mph. Officials believe the death toll of at least 45 people is likely to climb in the coming days as search-and-rescue crews access additional areas blocked off by debris and floodwaters.

After striking South Carolina on Friday, the storm is roughly 50 miles south-southeast of Greensboro, North Carolina, and has weakened to maximum sustained winds measured at 40 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center as of 2 a.m. ET Saturday.

“Considerable flash, urban and small stream flooding is possible across portions of North Carolina and southern Virginia through this morning, with minor river flooding possible over Coastal Carolinas,” the hurricane center warned. Wind gusts of up to tropical storm force are also possible and 3-6 inches of rainfall are forecast for the region.

Possible isolated tornadoes threaten parts of southeast Virginia and the Delmarva peninsula through Saturday morning, the hurricane center said. Ian is forecast to move north through Virginia Saturday and should dissipate by early Sunday.

This week, Ian left a trail of destruction felt most intensely in Florida’s southwestern coastal communities, including Fort Myers and Naples. Tampa, Orlando and cities along Florida’s northeastern coast were also impacted by downpours and high winds. Across the state, more than 1.3 million homes and businesses were still in the dark early Saturday.

“I made it about two-thirds down the island and I’d say 90% of the island is pretty much gone,” Fort Myers Beach Town Councilman Dan Allers said. “Unless you have a high-rise condo or a newer concrete home that is built to the same standards today, your house is pretty much gone.”

By Friday afternoon, Ian had weakened to a tropical storm before strengthening over Atlantic waters and making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane near Georgetown, South Carolina, bringing extreme storm surge, collapsing structures and ripping roofs off buildings.

How to help victims of Hurricane Ian

More than 70,000 customers in South Carolina did not have power early Saturday, according to tracker PowerOutage.us. Another 340,000 homes and businesses in North Carolina and more than 100,000 in Virginia were also in the dark Saturday morning.

Authorities in South Carolina began cataloging damage on Pawleys Island, a coastal town roughly 70 miles north of Charleston. The biggest concern there, according to the mayor, is how to remove debris so the island can be safe again.

“It was a Category 1 hurricane, but we experienced tremendous storm surge today, probably beyond what most people anticipated,” Mayor Brian Henry told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday.

“Most of us did not believe we would see the storm surge at 7-plus feet,” Henry said. “It’s beginning to recede, but we have a huge amount of water on the roadways and across the island.”

Pawleys Island residents are not allowed to return home until safety assessments are fully conducted Saturday, police said.

The storm has flooded homes and submerged vehicles along the shoreline. Two piers – one in Pawleys Island and another in North Myrtle Beach – partially collapsed as high winds pushed water even higher.

In Horry County, where North Myrtle Beach in located, crews began removing debris left by the storm. Officials are urging residents to remain home and to not drive.

“It’s a pretty scary sight,” Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune said of the hurricane. “I’m seeing way too many cars passing by. And I think people just don’t realize how dangerous it is to be out in these types of conditions. We’ve seen so many people’s cars get stuck, and emergency personnel has to go out and rescue people.”

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said on social media Friday, “A lot of prayers have been answered,” adding that the storm is “not as bad as it could have been, but don’t let your guard down yet. We are not out of the woods, there is water on the roads, still heavy winds, and it is still dangerous in many parts of the state.”

A swath of destruction was cut across the Florida peninsula Wednesday and Thursday, with communities along the southwestern coast facing the brunt of Ian’s storm surge at landfall. Sanibel and Captiva islands have been cut off from the mainland after parts of a causeway were obliterated by the storm.

Those living in Charlotte County are “facing a tragedy” without homes, electricity or water supplies, said Claudette Smith, public information officer for the sheriff’s office.

“We need everything, to put it plain and simple. We need everything. We need all hands on deck,” Smith told CNN Friday. “The people who have come to our assistance have been tremendously helpful, but we do need everything.”

From Florida’s coastal shores to inland cities such as Orlando, dangerous flooding has forced locals into dire circumstances. In one Orlando neighborhood where deep water has covered roads, some residents traveled by boat to assist others.

Rivers rising due to the substantial rainfall are still impacting areas headed into the weekend. A 12-mile portion of Interstate 75 in Sarasota County is closed in both directions due to the rising Myakka River, according to the Florida Department of Transportation Friday evening.

The US Coast Guard has rescued more than 275 people in Florida, according to Rear Admiral Brendan McPherson, and hundreds of additional rescues were being performed by teams from FEMA and local and state agencies. But post-storm conditions remain a huge challenge, he told CNN on Friday.

“We’re flying and we’re operating in areas that are unrecognizable. There’s no street signs. They don’t look like they used to look like. Buildings that were once benchmarks in the community are no longer there,” he said.

At least 45 deaths suspected to be related to Ian have been reported in Florida, including 16 in Lee County, 12 in Charlotte County, eight in Collier County, four in Volusia County, one in Polk County, one in Lake County, one in Manatee County and two in unincorporated Sarasota County, according to officials. Unconfirmed death cases are being processed by local medical examiners, who decide whether they are disaster-related, state emergency management Director Kevin Guthrie said.

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October 1, 2022
Hurricane Ian has devastated the Fort Myers area. Some people floated on freezers to escape | CNN

CNN
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Particularly hard hit by Hurricane Ian, the Fort Myers area in southwest Florida is in shambles.

“It’s horrific,” Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson told CNN’s John Berman Friday morning at the city’s devastated marina, its boats strewn about and cement slabs ripped from the water and dropped onto land. “Look at some of these docks. They could weigh as much as a ton… and they’ve been thrown around like they were nothing.

“There’s some large boats and they’ve been thrown around like they were toys.”

Fort Myers Beach, which sits on a 7-mile-long island along the Gulf of Mexico, saw “total devastation, catastrophic,” Fort Myers Beach Town Councilman Dan Allers said Friday. “Those are words that come to mind when you see what you see.”

He also said that pictures show the damage but don’t “show the magnitude of exactly what it is.”

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office in a Friday morning update called Fort Myers Beach “impassable.”

“We hear you. We understand you have loved ones on the island,” the sheriff’s office said, noting that it is not safe to drive there. “Bicycles cannot even make it through clear pathways.”

Helicopter footage showed debris and vacant lots where homes and other buildings had been swept away in Fort Myers Beach, where only residents were being allowed to drive over the bridge Friday morning.

You’re talking about no structure left. You’re talking about … homes thrown into the bay. This is a long-term fix, and it’s life-changing,” said Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno.

Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said Friday an unknown number of bodies was found in a house in Lee County. Crews will need water to recede and special equipment to learn more.

Also Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Lee County has asked for support from FEMA after experiencing a water main break at their county water utility, which means that the county does not have water at this point.

Bobby Pratt said he has lived in Fort Myers his entire life.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he said. His roof, porch and fence were damaged.

In the city of Fort Myers, rescuers had reached more than 200 people in the area, and fire officials believe there are no remaining people to be rescued, Anderson said.

Power lines and trees are down, so conditions remain dangerous, and the city is trying to clean up.

“We’d love for people to stay home,” Anderson said. “It’s not safe out there.”

HURRICANE IAN LIVE UPDATES

Allers told CNN’s Don Lemon on Thursday night that his town was destroyed.

“I’d say 90% of the island is pretty much gone,” Allers said. “Unless you have a high-rise condo or a newer concrete home that is built to the same standards today, your house is pretty much gone.”

Allers told CNN that many people in the town struggled to get to higher ground amid the storm surge.

“I’ve heard stories of people getting in freezers and floating the freezers to another home… and being rescued by higher homes,” Allers said.

STORM TRACKER

“Every home pretty much on the beach is gone,” Allers told CNN. “Some of the homes on the side streets are completely gone, and there’s nothing but a hole with water.”

Allers evacuated to higher ground during the storm. He later discovered that his own home was lost.

Friday, he pleaded for federal assistance.

“I don’t know if anyone in Washington can hear this: If you can send help, we need it.”

Liz Bello-Matthews, spokesperson for the city of Fort Myers, said on CNN Friday that safety workers are “responding constantly… It has been literally nonstop.”

She said many residents are struggling, though none are still reported stranded. There’s no internet or electricity, and many sections of the city have no water.

“We’re still just moving forward and trying to make sure that we’re there when they need us,” she said.

Shelters are open, including a large one that’s not being used enough, she said.

“The resources are there. They’re still open. We still have resources at those shelters and that’s where we’re guiding people to go at this time to make sure that their safe if their home is just not inhabitable,” she said.

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September 30, 2022
Hurricane Ian starts lashing South Carolina after leaving at least 19 dead and millions without power across Florida | CNN

CNN
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As Florida wakes up Friday to apocalyptic, coast-to-coast damage – with searchers still going door-to-door and millions without power – deadly Hurricane Ian has begun lashing South Carolina, where an expected Friday afternoon landfall threatens more lethal flooding and could be powerful enough to alter the coastal landscape.

After killing at least 19 people, Ian restrengthened to a Category 1 storm in the Atlantic and was barreling toward South Carolina with winds of 85 mph as of 8 a.m. ET Friday, with its center expected to move onto land in the afternoon between Charleston and Myrtle Beach, forecasters said.

Winds of tropical-storm strength – 39 to 73 mph – already were hitting much of the Carolinas’ coast by 8 a.m., and life-threatening storm surge and hurricane conditions were expected within hours, the National Hurricane Center said.

“This is a dangerous storm that will bring high winds and a lot of water,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster tweeted. “Be smart, make good decisions, check on your loved ones, and stay safe.”

Meanwhile, Florida is taking stock of the dizzying destruction Ian wrought through much of the peninsula Wednesday and Thursday after it smashed the southwest coast as a Category 4 storm. Homes on the coast were washed out to sea, buildings were smashed throughout the state, and floodwater ruined homes and businesses and trapped residents, even inland in places like the Orlando area.

Hundreds of rescues have taken place by land, air and sea, with residents stuck in homes or stranded on rooftops, and searchers still are performing wellness checks, especially in the Fort Myers and Naples areas, where feet of storm surge inundated streets and homes.

And now, the storm’s aftermath poses new, deadly dangers of its own. Some standing water is electrified, officials warned, while maneuvering through debris-strewn buildings and streets – many without working traffic signals – risks injury. Lack of air conditioning can lead to heat illness, and improper generator use can cause carbon monoxide poisoning.

In North Port between Fort Myers and Sarasota, Rosanna Walker stood Thursday in the flood-damaged home where she rode out the storm. Part of her drywall ceiling was hanging down.

“And all of a sudden, the water was coming in through the doors – the top, the bottom, the windows over here,” she told CNN’s John Berman. “It’s all in my closets; I’ve got to empty out my closets.”

“Everything got ruined.”

Here’s what to know:

• Dozens of deaths reported: At least 19 storm-related deaths have been reported so far in Florida, though that number is likely to rise. A majority of the fatalities are in hard-hit Lee and Charlotte counties.

• More than 2 million outages: Millions of Floridians who were in Ian’s path are still in the dark as of early Friday, according to PowerOutage.us. Most counties with the highest percentage of residents without power lie in the southwest, including Lee, Charlotte, DeSoto and Hardee.

• Historic flooding in some areas: Record flooding was recorded across central and northern Florida, including at least three rivers that hit all-time flood records. Officials in Orlando warned residents of dangerous flooding, which exceeded a foot in some areas.

• Hundreds of rescues and thousands of evacuations: More than 700 rescues have happened across Florida so far, the governor said Thursday, and thousands of evacuees have been reported. In Lee County, a hospital system had to evacuate more than 1,000 patients after its water supply was cut off, while other widespread evacuations have been reported in prisons and nursing homes.

• Coastal islands completely isolated from mainland: Sanibel and Captiva islands in southwest Florida are cut off from the mainland after several parts of a critical causeway were torn away. At least two people were killed in the storm in Sanibel, and the bridge may need to be completely rebuilt, local officials said. Chip Farrar, a resident of the tiny island of Matlacha, told CNN that 50 feet of road essential to reaching the mainland bridge has been washed out, and a second nearby bridge has also collapsed.

• Storm’s impacts today: A hurricane warning has been issued from the Savannah River at the Georgia-South Carolina state line to Cape Fear, North Carolina. Considerable flooding is possible from seawater and rain, especially in parts of coastal South Carolina, where storm surge up to 7 feet and 4 to 12 inches of rain could hit, forecasters say.

As Hurricane Ian moved away from Florida, governors in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia declared emergencies.

McMaster, of South Carolina, implored residents not to underestimate the storm’s danger and urged them to follow storm warnings closely to prepare for impact on Friday.

And when all is said and done, Ian’s storm system will likely have left behind lasting changes in its wake.

The coastlines along Georgia and South Carolina may sustain significant alterations because the powerful waves and storm surges brought by Ian could inundate coastal sand dunes, according to the US Geological Survey.

In addition to flooding communities behind the dunes, the storm may push sand back and deposit it inland, which could “reduce the height of protective sand dunes, alter beach profiles and leave areas behind the dunes more vulnerable to future storms,” the agency said.

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September 30, 2022