DeSantis Pledges To Rebuild Devastated Coastal Towns: Hurricane Ian

TAMPA BAY, FL — With Tampa Bay escaping the brunt of Hurricane Ian's wrath, search-and rescue teams from Pinellas, Polk, Hillsborough and Pasco counties have headed south to hurricane-devastated Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties.

Stay up-to-date by viewing all Hurricane Ian coverage on Patch here.

Just after 7 a.m. Friday, members of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Marine & Environmental Lands Unit departed for Charlotte County.

The Pasco County sheriff's Deployable Emergency Response Team headed to Lee County Thursday night. Click here for video on the DERT unit.

Thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed by storm surge, floods, fires and hurricane-force winds in Lee, Charlotte and Collier counties, with Lee County bearing the brunt of the storm's wrath.

AccuWeather estimates the total damage and economic loss from Hurricane Ian will be between $100 billion and $120 billion, making Ian one of the costliest storms in U.S. history.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking in Fort Myers Friday, said the Coast Guard, FEMA-certified search-and-rescue teams, the Army Corps of Engineers and the National Guard are concentrating all efforts on searching for and rescuing people in Lee and the surrounding counties.

Island residents carrying their meager belongings in trash bags and their bewildered family pets in carriers are being loaded onto Chinook helicopters and taken to the mainland.

"The National Guard has made 600 rescue trips in Lee County alone," DeSantis said. "You're looking at 700, 800 rescues so far, and those efforts began immediately."

Many residents on Lee County's coastal islands, including Sanibel, Captiva islands and Pine islands, are still trapped and awaiting rescue after the causeways to the mainland were destroyed. With Hurricane Ian forecast to make landfall north of Lee County, thousands of residents in Lee County were caught off guard and had no time to evacuate before the storm struck.

Shortly after the hurricane pummeled Lee County, resident Jorene Soto turned to Facebook, desperate to get help for her aunt and uncle who were trapped in a home on the island of Matlacha.

"The Coast Guard tried to evacuate them by helicopter this morning, and they refused," Soto said, noting that her uncle is deathly afraid of flying. "He’s very sick with diabetes and a foot amputation, and is on oxygen and lots of meds."

She put out a call for anyone with a boat to help rescue them.

Samantha Phoenix was equally desperate to get help for her brother.

"My brother is stuck in Matlacha on top of what’s left of the bridge. The road is gone on both sides. Is there anyone that can get to him?" she posted on Facebook.

While trying to get off the island when it was apparent it was going to be ground zero for Hurricane Ian, Phoenix said her brother packed up his cats, got in his car and began making his way over the causeway to the mainland when the asphalt collapsed on both sides, leaving him stranded in his car with his pets. Before losing cell phone service, he placed a final panicked call to his sister to get him help.

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Kevin Russell is the administrator of a usually-upbeat Facebook site called Things To Do On Pine Island, featuring news about upcoming festivals and art exhibits.

Overnight, Russell became the unofficial spokesman for the island communities and, as cell phone service and power went down on the islands, the Facebook page turned into an emergency communications conduit, linking families with their loved ones and maintaining a growing list of those still missing.

"Has anyone checked? Is the Baptist church still on Eighth Street?" asked Rick Ivens. "Tom and V Bridges from Bounty Lane, my neighbors, went there to shelter. The last report was he was in water up to his chest. She’s a double amputee and was floating in the water."

The state has also set up a website where loved ones can add missing friends and relatives.

Florida Department of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said search-and-rescue efforts have been underway for 72 hours.

Guthrie said, at this point, it's difficult to estimate the death toll.

"The medical examiners for each county will make the decision on whether a death is disaster related, whether it's directly caused by storm surge or rising water or a secondary cause such as electrocution due to downed power lines.

As for Lee County, which was hardest hit, Guthrie said emergency personnel haven't been able to give an estimate with search-and-rescue efforts ongoing.

He said there have definitely been fatalities. In one case in which a house was submerged in water, a Coast Guard diver went in and confirmed there were people dead but wasn't sure how many. Guthrie said there are several similar cases of submerged homes, but rescuers will have to wait until the water subsides before they know the total death toll.

In the meantime, Guthrie said FEMA and his office are going through a list of 10,000 people who have been reported missing following the hurricane. There are about 14,000 people in shelters who have no way to communicate with their loved ones and may account for some of the missing.

Others are undoubtedly safe in their homes, but have no electricity or cell phone connection to allow them to let family members know they're alive.

With that in mind, he said there has been one confirmed death caused by the hurricane in Polk County, 12 unconfirmed deaths in Charlotte County and eight unconfirmed deaths in Collier County.

"We will shrink that number (of people reported missing) day by day," he said. "We're whittling that list down."

He noted that, following Hurricane Michael's direct hit on the Panhandle in 2018, the state had an equally long list of people reported missing. Eventually, they were able to reunite the majority with family members and the final death toll from Hurricane Michael was 77 people.

During a news conference Friday afternoon near the now-demolished popular Malatcha hangout, Bert's Bar & Grill, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno assured those residents trapped on the island that help is on the way.

"We're going to get through this," he said.

Earlier on Friday, Marceno toured Fort Myers Beach with members of his command staff, and said he was overwhelmed by the scope of the destruction.

"Fort Myers Beach will never be the same, but we’ll work to rebuild it," he said.

DeSantis said power has been restored to about 15 percent of customers in Lee and Charlotte counties.

"It's been a difficult situation. What I've seen here is it's really been all hands on deck. I've seen them working around the clock and really sparing no effort to be able to help their community," DeSantis said.

He assured residents that repairs to the bridges and causeways that have isolated the islands from the mainland are a priority once rescue efforts are completed and power, water and other utilities restored.

"Pine Island, Sanibel, those (bridges) are going to be rebuilt," he said.

So far, he said the state has inspected and reopened 800 bridges throughout Florida including 67 priority bridges in Lee, Sarasota and Manatee counties.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has declared 13 Florida counties disaster zones, so far, and has activated its disaster assistance website for residents and businesses to apply for recovery funds. About 34,000 Floridians have already registered, DeSantis said.

Additionally, the state will set up disaster recovery centers in the impacted areas to help people apply for disaster assistance and make insurance claims.

The state has established the Florida Disaster Fund for anyone wishing to donate to the rescue and recovery effort. DeSantis said the fund has collected more than $12 million in donations.

Additionally, the state has a website for residents who want to volunteer for the rescue and recovery efforts. Those wishing to help can visit Volunteer Florida.

"This is something that's going to be a big deal for a long time," he said. "When these storms happen, there's a lot of damage."