Sheriff: Death Toll In "Hundreds" In Lee County, FL During Hurricane Ian

I lost my house in 92 in hurricane Andrew. I remember hearing neighbors and other people saying ahhhhh I’m staying here. We will be fine. When I got into homestead (I fled the storm using common sense) the same people were on their knees just petrified from what they just endured. If you have the capability to leave during a hurricane, I would say, do it.

To those who are unfamiliar with the area, matlacha is a very small island off the coast of Cape Coral, they’re connected by 1
Bridge, my sister chose to stay on matlacha and it extremely traumatized, she was rescued by boat this morning and were thankful she is alive, however devastatingly she watched 2 of her neighbors get on a boat as the eye was passing matlacha (they thought the storm was over and it was safe to flee, no one had internet to make sure) she watched her neighbors disappear into the distance and just minutes later the eye had passed and the eye wall was hitting matlacha 3x as hard as it was before, we do not believe the 2 men made it alive

That's rare for Florida. Hurricane deaths are usually sparce, especially in hurricane country. My heart goes out to the families who woke up today without their loved ones. I also hope there's people alive that are simply presumed dead. Maybe hiding in the rafters of the attics of some of those homes. No one really was expecting it too be this bad. The night before landfall, I'm calling foul on just about every meteorologist. At 11pm the night before, the eye of Ian underwent a replacement cycle. It looked a bit disorganized and the untrained eye would see a weakening hurricane. Meteorologists were quick to claim that was the beginning of a weakening trend the models had been hinting at for many days. Wake up 8 hours later to almost a Cat 5 bearing down. I'll admit, the models really did show only a Cat 1 or weak 2 at best the day before. Once again proving hurricane guidance is not seeing ALL the variables that shape, build and direct these monsters and how there's plenty of room for improvement. If steering flow forecasts are off by just 1° or 1 to 2mph, over just a 100 mile path, can equate to a vastly different landfall location. Hence why Tampa Bay was spared being destroyed as predicted just a few hours before. We aren't done with Ian. The Carolinas, Maryland and Virginia is in for 6 to as much as 10 inches of rain and gusty winds over a large portion of the area. Never underestimate a heavy rain event while a tropical system is involved. Ian will be with us til atleast Monday if not longer. Stay safe everyone.

Very sad for all the lives lost. Prayers for Florida 🙏🏻 please take evacuation orders serious.

Prayers for the families who have lost loved ones. Prayers for healing and strength at this time. This is a sad day in America.

I'm sorry for all my fellow Floridans hurt by this. Keep up your strength we are almost thru it

So heartbreaking that so many had no place to go or financially could not leave, rest in peace 💔

Its very sad that people don't take these storms serious enough to get out of its path. I watched 3 young men on a pier camera in Fort Myers playing in the water as the storm was pushing waves onto the beach pretty violently. Sad to think those 3 probably are among them. :-(

😢😢😢😢 wasn't expecting to hear this at all this morning...Knew there would be catastrophic flooding because of the size of Ian but so much death I'm numb...with tears in my eyes my thoughts and prayers are with their families and friends...may they R.I.P💔💔

I have in FL all my life and never have heard of that many people passing during a hurricane. I believe the flooding was the main factor. Very very sad news this morning.

Unfortunately, there are some people who cannot evacuate due to circumstances beyond control. I am such a person here in NW Florida. If this beast had come here, I have no choice but to ride it out, because I have to take care of someone who cannot be evacuated. God speed to these people in SW Florida. It's time to get to work.

Prayers for everyone in Florida🙏 can't imagine what they're going thru❤️‍🔥

My thoughts and Prayers go out for their families 🙏🥺🙏

My prayers are with everyone affected by hurricane 🌀Ian stay safe y'all ❤love from the islands 🏝🙏

Love and prayers to ask of the families adversely affected by storm Ian 🙏 😢

From an Aussie. Heartfelt commiserations to American people, particularly those who’s loved ones perished and others affected by the cyclone.

Our son is in Lee County as a National Guardsmen. They were stationed in Fort Myers. I spoke to him last night nothing so far. I am heartbroken for Florida and for our guardsmen as they begin moving into those areas to help rescue and recover.

Prayers to the people of Florida. Godspeed.

The whole time last night I was thinking how peaceful it was and that disaster is happening elsewhere it's crazy to think about and the fact that there were hundreds of casualties scares me. I hope everything gets better for the ones who lost anyone and everything during Ian.

My heart aches for all. I’m so sorry 😢 My prayers are constant.

We have a good family friend who lives in Fort Myers. We haven't heard from him since yesterday; I really hope that he's alright and not the worst case scenario

Prayers to them & their families. 🙏

OMG. I am so sorry for the family that has lost a love one. Today my prayers are for them.

You can hear and see his real pain.
It must be so hard to report on this after you all but begged people to leave…

May all the people who lost their lives may they all Rest In Peace this is very devastating.

My thoughts are with everyone affected. I am in the U.K,but have 2 friends living in Ft Myers,so truly hope they are ok. Prayers to you all. Xx

Thoughts in prayers to my people down south. This is awful 😢 ❤

Omg all my prayers going out to everyone in the path. Horrifying. Stay safe everyone please. ✌🏾

I know it sounds privileged, but as an American having any catastrophic event, even hurricanes, reaching casualties into the hundreds is incredibly rare and shocking. Rest in peace to those who couldn't make it out

I lived in Cape Coral when I was a kid and it was such a beautiful small town. Our neighborhood was surrounded by canals. This is heart breaking. 😢

I was praying all night that by some miracle I wouldn't have to hear this when I woke up, extremely sad. Praying for the deceased and for their families and friends. I'm sorry for your loss 🙏

I'm so sorry to hear of the deaths in Ft. Myers. I'm Canadian and I'm a pretty lucky guy as well as all that were with us. We were in Jamaica for my daughter's wedding and we just got back last night. Hurricane Ian basically missed us and went under Jamaica and around us. We got some rain on Monday, but nothing too severe and no storm surge. It hit the western part of Cuba and then continued towards the south of Florida. We knew the west coast of your beautiful state was going to get hit, but those devastating pictures of Ft. Myers and the surrounding areas are terrifying. I can't imagine how you all feel, on top of the news that hundreds of people are dead. My heart goes out to all of you.

I have never seen this reporter before. Well spoken and compassionate.

Praying 🙏 for my friends, families & customers in this area of Florida.😢

How unfortunate, with all the advanced warnings now available it is hard to imagine a death toll even breaking into the double digits. My prayers for the effected families.

May God comfort those who lost loved ones. ❤️🙏 Hurricanes, like tornadoes, typhoons, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, & other natural disasters appear to be less predictable than we thought. You can't rely totally on the meteorologist or the newscaster to make your decision to evacuate or not, as the storm can make changes last minute all on its own. It seems that Tampa got spared last minute & that Fort Meyers & other cities got pummeled instead.

Very well presented with calm and truth. Many retirees live in that area...I'm sure there will be many stories if disheartening news.

prayers to those that did not make it and their families. :(

As a major hurricane survivor, may they all who lost thier lives go to the great halls, for they fought to the end.

This is heartbreaking. I don't live in the US and I know people have free will, but when you are told to evacuate, evacuate, and it shouldn't be optional. Those poor souls may God have mercy on them. 🙏🙏

Prayers for the families.🙏

Some of those who lost their lives were people who did not have the money or means to escape. Some had pets and chose to stay with them. Do not condemn them is you don't know their story. Of course there were some who made a reckless decision to stay just to watch the storm. We are all humans in this together. Bless everyone down there.

So sad. May God's grace and peace be with this community and these people.

I feel so sorry for this to happen to these people. I know from previous hurricanes, that people say they will stay, no matter what When you are being warned for days about the disaster the storm bring, cannot understand why everyone who could leave did not..

What a shame. I feel for the family's of the lost

Praying for all those new Floridians who thought "they always over exaggerate the effects!". My best friends step son and family just moved to Cape Coral from WI. Decided to ignore the evac on the advice of another new Floridian. Now we're waiting and hoping they're not among the casualties.

From Tampa Bay here. We were expecting it. Many evacuated here and took up places all over the state. 24 hours before it hit it decided to shift way south, even below cone. If you have never evacuated you have no idea what it takes to do so. 24 hours is not enough time to gather your family always when they are working and at school because guess what those are still happening because it wasn't going there. Then to gas up in huge lines in panic if you have a car because it shifted. And yes you may say that all should be done ahead of time but in reality it shifted tracks pretty much down the whole west side of the state in a short time. It takes a lot of money to leave your area. Im assuming shelters opened but not sure how many in such a short time. Devastating. Stop commenting criticism and lend a hand instead. #Floridianallmylife

Praying that everyone is ok. May the lord continue to be with them

I just simply can’t understand how this is possible in this day and age. With the advance warnings and all the tools at peoples disposal this is just unacceptable! I will also take it a step further and say this is on the people who stayed!!! There is ZERO REASON to have stayed, even if you are poor, they had options to get you out of there at no cost, NO PIECE OF PROPERTY IS WORTH YOUR LIFE!!

Good anchor. Very thoughtful and compassionate.

Sending my condolences to family and friends.

I think a big part of the problem with people evacuating is knowing that if they evacuate they won't be able to return immediately afterwards especially if you have a hurricane like Ian.

Been literally praying for you guys from Destin Florida we understand!!

Some of the elderly couldn't get out for many reasons🙏
health ,money ,vehicle Etc ....
what a horrible way to die 😢....prayers
for all the souls that have passed.
I pray for those that are alive and waiting to be rescued 🙏God give them strength and courage 🙏and I pray for all the First Responders ;they really truly care and I hope they will all remain safe 🙏
God bless Florida Jesus we need you Mama Mary we need you too🙏🙏 prayers and hugs from Boston Massachusetts

That the storm shifted so much in its final approach, caught alot of folks off guard. Prayers.

🇨🇦 hearts go out to all affected😢

This was realistically a Cat 5
That came on top Florida .
Even Central Florida got slammed where flooding occured 2 stories high . smh. Really sad . light & love to everyone . Big thank you to firemen and rescue workers

Prayers to all families and loved ones 🙏🏻😇❤️

It happens every year but for some reason it's "unfathomable".... there is literally something called " hurricane season".

So devastatingly heartbreaking. So, so sorry .

This is such sad news. I understand many of the elderly couldn't get out and I'm thinking a lot of the fatalities are either elderly or younger going out to film and couldn't get out of the way.

Exactly! Very well said! Even the news anchor said you were continually warned that a major catastrophic hurricane was coming with historical storm surge and flooding was coming and you must evacuate! So sad for the people who thought staying was a good idea. Prayers are with those families. Maybe listen to the warnings and get away from the storm next time and be grateful you have a next time..🙏

This shows the true power of these monster hurricane storms. 🌀 people MUST evacuate these areas in order for lives to be saved. Many waited too long and too late ....my refused to leave at all and risk their own safety. Common sense must prevail , there will be more hurricanes brewing......

My heart goes out to the families of the deceased God be with them ..we made it alrite in Zephyrhills Florida not a bunch of damage .

Sending prayers to everyone 🙏🏼❤️

Polk county Florida here we got hit hard and it was a rough ride last night and the sounds where horrific thank god its over but we are alive. I pray for the families of those lost I'm just finding this out now 😢

I cant believe so many of our fellow Americans were lost last night. This is absolutely horrible.

This is so sad… I pray for everyone in Ian’s path.. the state of this economy has put people not only in a bad state but now a deadly state

Prayers for Florida...🙏✝️🙏

The latest building code in Lee County required the first floor be 8 feet above sea level.
New houses in existing communities set up on a mound high above the surrounding neighborhood.
The storm surge was 7 feet.
Even if your home survived you are without electric, water, sewer, groceries, gas virtually everything for days, maybe weeks.
Or you may have temporarily evacuated forever.
Homeowners insurance in Florida is expensive. A lot of people have no insurance. Especially poor people.
Lee County is going to have a lot of FEMA communities.

I don't think it is responsible to make such statements when you have no knowledge of how many people have died. These same kinds of statements were made after Andrew in 1992 and it turned out the death toll was far less than anticipated.
Let's focus on cleaning up and recovery and hope most of those people evacuated.

I'll never understand why people don't leave. "Can't afford to" is not an excuse. Dozens of shelters are within a close drive if not walking distance. I've been in Florida my entire life ---- hurricanes are nothing to play with. May they rest in peace.

So sad. Truly heartbreaking.

I have never in my life heard someone reporting such bad news and think it a good idea to say its not our fault its their own fault as we told them so. The man is lost to ego with no heart.

Very sad. I’m sure the death toll is not just 100’s of people but many animals 😢.

Prayers to Lee County and Ft Myers my prayers for our neighbors

I really need some confirmation before I can believe that such a large number of people died. What were the circumstances? Did they drown?
I only live about 100 miles from there and I didn’t even lose power! I hope this report isn’t true.

Wow.
It's just sad that so many couldn't get out in time. Some have very few places to go.

Please keep prayers for Florida victims of Ian going

I have a feeling a lot of these fatalities were people who have moved to the state in recent years and don’t know the dangers of hurricanes or how to prepare for them.

RIP to those who lost their lives.

Unfortunately I think most people who decide to stay during a hurricane hv themselves never been through a bad one . I’ve been through 2 (not quite as powerful as Ian , but a strong 3 and a high end cat 2 and I’ll never do it again , both were forecasted to be significantly weaker and strengthened right before landfall . There are options to those who say they can’t afford to leave . There are local shelters or within driving distance. There are options. They may not be the most convenient or even a pain in the ass but it sure beats putting yourself and or family in jeapardy , my thoughts and prayers are with those affected by Ian 🙏.

Governor commenting on Sheriff statement: “None of that is confirmed. I think what that is, is there were 911 calls for people saying, ‘hey, the water is rising in my home, I’m going to go up in the attic but I’m really worried,” DeSantis said. “Of course, those folks are now going to be checked on and I think you’ll have more clarity about that in the next day or so as they’re able to go to those locations to determine whether people need services or are able to be rescued.”

There an old saying, "trust but verify". Just because a Sheriff says so doesn't necessarily mean it's accurate and if he's wrong and you reported that death toll without it being verified your going to sound like Shepherd Smith did back with his Matthew coverage.

Omg my condolences to all the families...😭😢😥🙏🙏

My grand kids are in Cape Coral and this is excruciating having to wait to hear from anyone. Their house is on a canal, haven't heard anything since 2 o'clock yesterday.

I had to evacuate because of hurricane Floyd in 1999. It’s scary and surreal. Be safe friends.

People were warned in plenty of time about the storm and the water surge, but lots of people chose to stay and ride it out and that proved to be costly in lives, but they were warned and they made their own decision to stay, so they can only blame themselves!

You did a really good job sir.

Heartbroken for my favorite part of Florida and I’m a Floridian.

Soo unfortunate. i live in Florida for 28 years and moved out of state a few weeks ago. and i have seen soo many homes being built LITERALLY where water was. If Miami gets hit that way too it would be the same if not more catastrophes; it is truly sad!

Everyone made a choice. There choice.
✝️
Buses were provided in some areas to move people to a Safer place but people did not take them 🙄
My condolences to there Families 🙏

Floridian here, this storm was unprecedented 😢

I have a question. As we all know, not everyone has the funds to retreat from danger. So my question is: To your knowledge, were there any mandated shelters for these people to evacuate to? No school buses available to help move them to safety? I'm not being critical, I'd just like to know the facts

When a storm of this magnitude is coming 2 to 300 miles within your vicinity and you are told to evacuate, leave then and don't look back. It wipes everything out.

And then you see videos of people swimming out in the surf and not taking this hurricane seriously. Very sad

I'm actually surprised it didn't veer towards Pensacola like they usually do. We always end up in some mess here during hurricane season, praying for those people in effected areas & their families

Prayers for Florida 🙏

So sad. Praying for all. 🙏🙏🙏

So sad.😥 I guess it takes something like this to make people take these events serious. All they had to do is drive away, now, some are gone.😥😥😥🙏🙏🙏