Fort Myers Beach mayor says residents may be able to return on Monday
From CNN’s Paradise Afshar
The mayor of Fort Myers Beach said residents may be allowed reentry on Monday.
“So that’s a date we can shoot for. We don’t want to keep anybody off any longer than we have to,” Mayor Ray Murphy said in a Facebook post.
The mayor said the community — located on Estero Island in Lee County, Florida — took a hard hit from Hurricane Ian.
“There’s a lot of devastation down here,” he said. “The good news is, is that the island is crawling with emergency people right now.”
Crews are working to clear roadways, and search and rescue teams are searching neighborhoods, the mayor said.
“There is no way to sugar coat it – there’s just a hell of a lot to do down here. But we’re up to the task,” Murphy added.
Destruction from Hurricane Ian could complicate midterm voting in parts of Florida
From CNN's Fredreka Schouten
Elections officials in portions of Florida hard hit by Hurricane Ian are scrambling to meet a fast-approaching deadline to begin sending out absentee ballots and are working to develop contingency plans for November’s general election.
In Lee County, Florida – home to Fort Myers, which saw homes and businesses torn apart and flooded this week by the powerful storm – Elections Supervisor Tommy Doyle said the county’s election equipment and voting material survived Ian, but his facilities lack power.
An immediate priority, he told CNN on Friday, was ensuring that the county would meet the Oct. 6 deadline under state law to mail out about 180,000 absentee ballots to Florida residents who already have requested them. The Bonita Springs, Florida, vendor handling the work already had completed about half the project when the storm hit, Doyle said, but currently lacks electrical power to finish the job.
If the power is not restored by Sunday, Doyle said he plans to shift the work to the East Coast of the state in an effort to meet the deadline.
Leon County Elections Supervisor Mark Earley, who is president of the state association for Florida’s 67 election supervisors, said counties affected by the hurricane are still “assessing the situation,” but said their main offices and warehouses “survived intact and remarkably well.”
Officials, however, will have to come up with contingency plans, especially in Lee County, for in-person voting later this fall, following the likely destruction of polling places, he said.
Earley said those options include establishing consolidated voting centers and encouraging Floridians displaced by the storm to vote by mail. Oct. 29 is the deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot in Florida.
After touring Florida storm damage, FEMA administrator says more residents will be eligible for assistance
From CNN’s Andy Rose
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be expanding the number of Florida counties where residents will be eligible for federal help, the top administrator said Friday.
“We will add more counties for assistance,” Deanne Criswell said at a news conference in St. Augustine following a storm damage tour. The work to identify which counties need help is ongoing, she said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was also at the news conference, said the state is asking for more help from FEMA, saying that Hurricane Ian impacted more communities than first anticipated.
“When they meander across the peninsula, you're hitting all these different communities, and there's a lot of impacts that have a trickle effect all across the state,” DeSantis said.
Currently, 13 Florida counties — mostly in southwest and central Florida — are eligible for individual assistance through FEMA.
Orlando officials urge residents to restrict water use
From CNN’s Paradise Afshar
Orlando officials are encouraging residents to stay out of flooded waterways following Hurricane Ian and restrict how much water they use.
This includes tasks such as doing laundry, washing dishes, taking showers or baths and flushing toilets.
The city said its wastewater treatment plant is currently operating above capacity, according to a statement.
“Additional water usage like this will put more pressure on these systems and could lead to sewage overflows,” the statement said.
Shelters in Charleston County to close Saturday afternoon
From CNN’s Jamiel Lynch
Shelters in Charleston County, South Carolina, will remain open until 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, officials said in a statement.
Buses will start taking people from the shelters back to the original pick-up locations Saturday morning, it said, adding that crews are out accessing the damage in the county.
The area will move into “OPCON 2” status at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, it said — meaning there will be enhanced awareness across the county, according to its website.
“A lot of prayers have been answered,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said in a tweet on Friday.
“This 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,” he said.
Ian is now a post-tropical storm but the danger is not over, hurricane center says
From CNN's Taylor Ward
Ian is transitioning from a tropical system to a mid-latitude storm and has now been designated Post-Tropical Cyclone Ian, according to the 5 p.m. ET advisory from the National Hurricane Center.
Post-Tropical Cyclone Ian has winds of 70 mph as it moves inland over the Carolinas. Tropical storm-force winds extend well out from the center and are impacting much of the eastern Carolinas.
And the danger is not over, the hurricane center said.
“Dangerous storm surge, flash flooding and high winds are still in the forecast from this cyclone," the advisory said.
Ian is forecast to move further inland on Saturday over eastern South Carolina and across North Carolina. The hurricane center says the storm could reach western Virginia by early Sunday.
"We need help out here": Residents travel by boat from home to home in Orlando to help their neighbors
It began with a kayak, and on Friday it was a boat — as Emori Rivers and Henry Lawrence took it upon themselves to help their neighbors in Orlo Vista, Orlando.
"I just couldn't live knowing that the people in my neighborhood were suffering from this hurricane. ... I just had a boat and me and my sister-in-law, my daughter, we just dropped in and went to saving people," Lawrence told CNN's Ryan Young as they went from home to home.
Rivers said they had helped about 60 people get out of their homes while carrying supplies to others.
Rivers said in the flooded neighborhood, friends' pets have died, and people have been crying and trying to call family members and hotels. Rescue crews were there Thursday, but not today.
There also had been alligators and snakes in the water — and she'd killed some snakes already. "I'm not worried about the snakes," she said.
Rivers said she is frustrated by the city government's response.
"I think my neighborhood exactly has got it worse than any other neighborhood. Yes, other neighborhoods have flooded. But I haven't seen not one other neighborhood where their houses completely under the water. As we're going by, I'm seeing water all the way up to the door. So I'm really frustrated; we need help out here," she said.
Watch the moment here:
16 storm-related deaths in Lee County, sheriff says
From CNN’s Joe Sutton
There were 16 storm-related deaths in Lee County, Florida, according to the local sheriff.
“Our hearts go out to friends & family who lost their loved one in this tragic storm. We are here for you & we will get though this together,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said Friday on Twitter.
Lee County is in southwest Florida and it includes the cities of Cape Coral and Fort Myers as well as hard-hit Sanibel Island.
The sheriff's tally brings CNN’s count to at least 42 storm-related deaths attributable to Hurricane Ian, based on a combination of state and county reporting.
On Friday morning, Gov. Ron DeSantis listed 21 deaths in various counties. A number of counties have since updated their numbers.
Mayor of small South Carolina island says storm surge was beyond what most people anticipated
From CNN’s Amanda Musa
Brian Henry, Mayor of Pawley’s Island in South Carolina, said when Ian hit as a Category 1 hurricane, it brought a storm surge that was "probably beyond what most people anticipated."
Pawley’s Island is about 70 miles north of Charleston.
“Most of us did not believe we would see the storm surge at 7 plus feet,” Henry told CNN. “It's beginning to recede but we have a huge amount of water on the roadways and across the island.”
Henry said he knows of at least one rescue on the island.
“There was a couple with cats and dogs in a one-level house that we're experiencing chest-level flooding, and they needed to get out,” Henry said. “Local fire and rescue did a fantastic job getting in there and taking care of it.”
Now, the biggest concern is when officials will be able to do an assessment of the damage "because both of the causeways onto the island are still flooded and impassable," Henry said.
The mayor says the island will most likely be closed for a few days as crews make sure structures and electrical systems are safe.
