600K Florida homes, businesses still without power in wake of Hurricane Ian
The bridge leading from Fort Myers to Pine Island, Fla., is heavily damaged in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. Due to the damage, the island can only be reached by boat or air. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Nearly 600,000 homes in Florida are still without power five days after Hurricane Ian made landfall in the state as a Category 4 storm.
As of Monday afternoon, 590,962 customers are without power in Florida, according to PowerOutage.us, with a majority centered in the southwestern region of the state, where the hurricane first hit.
The number of Floridians without power exceeded 2.6 million just after the storm hit. On Sunday, about 685,000 customers were without power.
In Lee County, which includes hard-hit Fort Myers, more than 275,000 customers remain without power, about 56 percent of the county.
Neighboring Charlotte County has more than 74,000 customers without power, about 58 percent of the county, while Sarasota has 87,760 customers without power, roughly 30 percent of the county.
Hurricane Ian brought devastation across Florida last week, with storm surges on the coast peaking at 12 feet in some places, and catastrophic flooding and heavy rain in coastal and inland areas, including up to 19 inches of rain in some of the hardest-hit places.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, state personnel and local emergency responders continue to work to rescue citizens and abate the damage to homes and other infrastructure.
At least 68 people have died in Florida and 10,000 are still unaccounted for in the state as emergency operations continue.