A Florida sheriff said during an interview Thursday the fatalities from Hurricane Ian are “in the hundreds.”
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said fatalities from the Category 4 storm that struck the state Wednesday “are in the hundreds,” according to an interview with Good Morning America. “While I don’t have confirmed numbers, I definitely know the fatalities are in the hundreds,” Marceno said, later saying, “so far, confirmed in the hundreds.”
Hoping he’s wrong, but Lee County, Fla. Sheriff Carmine Marceno says it’s “confirmed” there are “fatalities in the hundreds” #HurricaneIan pic.twitter.com/WtJCfWPwb4
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 29, 2022
“[We are] unsure of the exact details, because we are just starting to scratch the surface on this assessment,” Marceno added during the interview.
Thousands of calls have been made to 911 throughout the state, Marceno noted. There are more than 2.5 million Florida residences and businesses are without power, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
The town of Fort Myers was hit particularly hard by the hurricane, with videos circulating online of the downtown area looking completely destroyed. Early Thursday morning, the Daily Caller attempted to place a call to the mayor’s office in Fort Myers regarding a story, but the line was completely dead on every attempted call. (RELATED: Videos Show Mass Destruction From Early Stages Of Hurricane Ian Hitting Florida)
Downtown Ft. Myers is gone…pic.twitter.com/0NbNONW2eW
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) September 29, 2022
The National Hurricane Center reported Hurricane Ian turned into a tropical storm early Thursday morning as it passed over land, but it is expected to regain strength to near-hurricane levels once it hits the Atlantic Ocean, according to the Tampa Bay Times.