Hurricane Ian rescue efforts continue, dangers persist

FORT MYERS, Fla. (NewsNation) — Hurricane Ian’s devastation continued Monday as people navigate the aftermath of the storm. Floridians kayaked down streets that were passable just a day or two earlier, and hundreds of thousands of residents are still without power.

National Guard helicopters continued rescue missions to residents still stranded on Florida’s barrier islands, as the death toll rose over the weekend.

Days after Hurricane Ian carved a path of destruction from Florida to the Carolinas, the dangers persisted and even worsened in some places. It was clear the road to recovery from this monster storm will be long and painful.

The storm doused Virginia with rain Sunday, and officials warned of the potential for severe flooding along its coast, beginning overnight Monday.

Ian’s remnants moved offshore and formed a Nor’easter that is expected to pile even more water into an already inundated Chesapeake Bay and threatened to cause the most significant tidal flooding event in Virginia’s Hampton Roads region in the last 10 to 15 years, said Cody Poche, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

The island town of Chincoteague declared a state of emergency Sunday and strongly recommended that residents in certain areas evacuate. The Eastern Shore and northern portion of North Carolina’s Outer Banks were also likely to be impacted.

At least 68 people have been confirmed dead: 61 in Florida, four in North Carolina and three in Cuba.

With the death toll rising, Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the federal government was ready to help in a huge way, focusing first on victims in Florida, which took the brunt of one of the strongest storms to make landfall in the United States. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden plan to visit the state on Wednesday.

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. Officials warned that the situation in many areas isn’t expected to improve for several days because the rain that fell has nowhere to go because waterways are overflowing.

Power companies have been working non-stop to get the power turned back on for millions of people by late Sunday night.

Fewer than 620,000 homes and businesses in Florida were still without electricity by early Monday, down from a peak of 2.6 million.

Criswell told “Fox News Sunday” that the federal government, including the Coast Guard and Department of Defense, had moved into position “the largest amount of search and rescue assets that I think we’ve ever put in place before.”

Still, recovery will take time, said Criswell, who visited the state Friday and Saturday to assess the damage and talk to survivors. She cautioned that dangers remain with downed power lines in standing water.

More than 1,600 people have been rescued statewide, according to Florida’s emergency management agency.

Rescue missions were ongoing, especially to Florida’s barrier islands, which were cut off from the mainland when storm surges destroyed causeways and bridges.

The state will build a temporary traffic passageway for the largest one, Pine Island, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday, adding that an allocation had been approved for the Department of Transportation to build it this week and construction could start as soon as Monday.

“It’s not going to be a full bridge, you’re going to have to go over it probably at 5 miles an hour or something, but it’ll at least let people get in and off the island with their vehicles,” the governor said at a news conference.

Coast Guard, municipal and private crews have been using helicopters, boats and even jet skis to evacuate people over the past several days.

In rural Seminole County, north of Orlando, residents donned waders, boots and bug spray to paddle to their flooded homes Sunday.

Ben Bertat found 4 inches of water in his house by Lake Harney after kayaking there.

“I think it’s going to get worse because all of this water has to get to the lake,” said Bertat, pointing to the water flooding a nearby road. “With ground saturation, all this swamp is full and it just can’t take any more water. It doesn’t look like it’s getting any lower.”

Elsewhere, power remained knocked out to at least half of South Carolina’s Pawleys Island, a beach community roughly 75 miles up the coast from Charleston. In North Carolina, the storm downed trees and power lines.

Snowbird Bob Fennessey of Montreal, Canada, clears out storm-damaged items from his condo, as ruined furniture and a car from his neighbors’ vacation home sits on the lawn, after storm surge filled the first story of their houses during the passage of Hurricane Ian, near San Carlos Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Fish lie dead at the edge of a road after the passage of Hurricane Ian, inside a trailer park on San Carlos Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Canoes and kayaks sit tied up to a sign on a flooded street in Seminole County, Fla., on Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. Residents in central Florida donned fishing waders, boots and bug spray and canoed or kayaked to their homes on streets where floodwaters continued rising Sunday despite it being four days since Hurricane Ian tore through the state. (AP Photo/Mike Schneider)
Contractors work to clear debris from the wreckage of Getaway Marina where owner Robert Leisure (not pictured) has begun the long process of rebuilding his business after the passage of Hurricane Ian, on San Carlos Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A bathroom lies exposed and missing fixtures at Getaway Marina, as owner Robert Leisure begins the long process of rebuilding his business after the passage of Hurricane Ian, on San Carlos Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A decorative item recovered from the wreckage of Getaway Marina sits on a table to be saved, as owner Robert Leisure begins the long process of rebuilding his business after the passage of Hurricane Ian, on San Carlos Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A photograph of an unknown family found by the Hudson family of Canada at their vacation home after the passage of Hurricane Ian rests alongside tools recovered from their storm-surge damaged garage level, near San Carlos Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Responders from the de Moya Group survey damage to the bridge leading to Pine Island, to start building temporary access to the island in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Matlacha, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. The only bridge to the island is heavily damaged so it can only be reached by boat or air. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
CORRECTS DATELINE TO MATLACHA, FLA., INSTEAD OF SPRING HILL – Responders from the de Moya Group survey damage to the bridge leading to Pine Island, to start building temporary access to the island in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Matlacha, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. The only bridge to the island is heavily damaged so it can only be reached by boat or air. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Linda Newman, a resident of Pine Island who rode out the storm on the island and recently lost her husband, waits to be evacuated in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Pine Island in Lee County, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. The only bridge to the island is heavily damaged so it can only be reached by boat or air. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
People stand on the destroyed bridge to Pine Island as they view the damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Matlacha, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. The only bridge to the island is heavily damaged so it can only be reached by boat or air. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Melanie Kayson, a resident of Pine Island who rode out the storm on the island, cries as she is evacuated in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Pine Island in Lee County, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. The only bridge to the island is heavily damaged so it can only be reached by boat or air. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
CORRECTS DATELINE TO MATLACHA, FLA., INSTEAD OF SPRING HILL – Destruction at the bridge leading to Pine Island is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Matlacha, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. The only bridge to the island is heavily damaged so it can only be reached by boat or air. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Coast Guard personnel help evacuate residents who rode out the storm, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Florida’s Pine Island, in Lee County, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. The only bridge to the island is heavily damaged so it can only be reached by boat or air. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Responders help evacuate Andy Sherwood, a resident who rode out the storm, and had a hip replacement five weeks earlier, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Pine Island, in Florida’s Lee County, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. The only bridge to the island is heavily damaged so it can only be reached by boat or air. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Residents who rode out the storm arrive at a dock to evacuate by boat in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, on Pine Island in Florida’s Lee County, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. The only bridge to the island is heavily damaged so it can only be reached by boat or air. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Rescuers help evacuate Suzanne Tomlinson, a resident who rode out the storm, as they carry her to a waiting boat in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Pine Island in Florida’s Lee County, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. The only bridge to the island is heavily damaged so it can only be reached by boat or air. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Tami Tackett hugs her husband Dewey Tackett as he evacuates by boat and she remains, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Pine Island, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. The only bridge to the island is heavily damaged so it can only be reached by boat or air. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Boats operated by resident good Samaritans help evacuate residents who stayed behind on Pine Island, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Matlacha Fla., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. The only bridge to the island is heavily damaged so it can only be reached by boat or air. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)