Death Toll Uncertain In Florida As Hurricane Ian Poised To Hit South Carolina

Photo from CBS Miami shows utter destruction in
Fort Myers Beach, Florida.

 The big mess left behind in Florida is making it impossible to assess the losses both in terms of life and property from Hurricane Ian. 

More damage is on the way as a rejuvenated Ian is poised to hit South Carolina today with a storm surge and winds as high as 85 mph. Hopefully, this will be Ian's big last gasp.  Although the hurricane isn't as strong as it was when it hit southwest Florida, it's already causing trouble even before making landfall.

As of earlier this morning, parts of downtown Charleston, South Carolina and other sections of the city were beginning to flood from a storm surge. The flooding is expected to worsen as heavy rains continue and tides rise.  Flooding is also forecast deep into South and North Carolina today. 

Meanwhile, Florida is only just beginning to pick up the pieces as many areas remain flooded. Emergency responders did rescue at least 700 people in Florida Thursday.  This included the miraculous rescue of a man found alive under a large pile of broken lumber - the apparent remains of a house in Fort Myers Beach.  At least 2.1 million utility customers in Florida still had no electricity as of early this morning. 

So far, the Associated Press has confirmed six deaths, but that total will rise. There's still a lot of missing person reports to sift through, debris to search through and reports to coordinate.  Many areas remained flooded, and survivors were gradually being taken out in small boats and kayaks. This will take awhile.

I am hoping the death toll does not exceed 100, as some Florida officials feared yesterday. I'm also hoping most everybody left the hardest hit places like Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island before the storm. Areal footage shows many homes swept clean away, leaving only bare concrete slabs behind.  If anyone was in those now gone homes, they didn't survive. 

In hardest hit areas of Lee and Charlotte counties in Florida, communications were spotty at best, with cell service severely limited. Cell phone companies were rushing in portable cell towers to help with this issue.

Here in Vermont, the only effects from Ian will be from its outflow. Hurricanes are like chimneys, spewing heat and moisture into the air. That outflow takes the form of a vast shield of high, relatively thin clouds. Those clouds were moving into Vermont this morning and will linger until a cold front arrives early Sunday.

Those high clouds will help prevent another frost from occurring tonight, but the cold front will usher in a renewed risk for frosts and freezes Sunday and Monday nights.

Meanwhile, the tropics look blessedly quiet, other than Ian.  A tropical depression in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean dissipated yesterday. A new disturbance just moving off the African coast will need to be watched for possible development into a tropical storm or hurricane. But if that happens, it'll take a few days to do so. It's unknown yet if this will threaten any land areas.