In Florida, rescuers continue to search for survivors of Hurricane Ian

Rescuers searched for survivors among the ruins of flooded homes in Florida Hurricane Jan while authorities in South Carolina began assessing damage from the impact as the remnants of one of the strongest and costliest hurricanes to ever hit the US continued to move north.

The powerful storm terrorized millions for most of the week as it pounded western Cuba before sweeping across Florida from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, where it gathered enough strength for a final assault on South Carolina.

At least 28 people died as a result of the storm.

As of Saturday morning, more than 1.2 million homes and businesses remained without power in Florida, and hundreds of thousands were without power reported through Carolina and Virginia.

Distraught residents waded through knee-high water in Florida on Friday, rescuing what they could from their flooded homes and loading them into rafts and canoes.

“I want to sit in the corner and cry. I don’t know what else to do,” Stevie Scuderi said after sorting through her nearly destroyed apartment in Fort Myers, dirt from her kitchen sticking to her purple sandals.

In South Carolina, the center of John made landfall near Georgetown, a small community along Winnah Bay, about 60 miles north of historic Charleston. The storm washed away parts of four marinas along the coast, including two connected to the popular tourist town of Myrtle Beach.

The storm’s winds as they hit the state were much weaker than when Ian made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast earlier this week. Authorities and volunteers were still assessing the damage, while shocked residents were trying to come to terms with what they had just been through.

Anthony Rivera, 25, said he had to climb through the window of his first-floor apartment during the storm to get his grandmother and girlfriend to the second floor. As they rushed to escape the rising water, a storm surge brought the boat right next to his apartment.

“It’s the worst thing in the world because I can’t stop any boat,” he said. “I’m not Superman.”

Although Ian had long passed over Florida, new problems continued to arise. A 14-mile stretch of Interstate 75 was closed Friday night in both directions in the Port Charlotte area due to massive water that swelled the Miakka River.

Hurricane Ian likely caused more than $100 billion in damage, including $63 billion in private property damage, according to disaster modeling firm Karen Clark & ​​Co., which regularly issues disaster estimates. insurance. If those numbers are confirmed, it would make Ian at least the fourth costliest hurricane in US history.

In the Sarasota suburb of North Point, Florida, residents of the Country Club Ridge subdivision waded through flooded streets on Friday. John Chigil solemnly towed a canoe and another small boat through ankle-deep water.

“There’s really nothing to feel here. It’s an act of God, you know?” he said. “I mean, all you can do is pray and hope for a better day tomorrow.”

Now weakened to a post-tropical cyclone, Ian was expected to move across central North Carolina on Saturday morning before moving into Virginia and New York.