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Monday 3 october 2022

Feds vow major aid for Hurricane Ian victims amid rescues

Continued from Front Nearly 850,000 homes and saturation, all this swamp
businesses were still without is full and it just can’t take
“People think they have electricity Sunday, down any more water. It doesn’t
lost everything, but you from a peak of 2.67 million. look like it’s getting any
haven’t lost everything if Criswell told “Fox News Sun- lower.”
you haven’t lost yourself,” day” that the federal gov- Gabriel Madling kayaked
he said. ernment began to arrange through several feet of wa-
Deanne Criswell, admin- the “largest amount of ter on his street, delivering
istrator of the Federal search and rescue assets sandbags to stave off wa-
Emergency Management that I think we’ve ever put ter that had crept to his
Agency, said the federal in place before” to supple- doorstep.
government was ready to ment Florida’s resources. “My home is close to un-
help in a huge way, focus- Even so, recovery will take derwater,” Madling said.
ing first on victims in Florida, time, said Criswell, who “Right now, I’m just going
which took the brunt of one visited the state on Friday to sandbag as much as I
of the strongest storms to and Saturday to assess the can and hope and pray.”
make landfall in the United The bridge leading from Fort Myers to Pine Island, Fla., is seen damage and talk to survi- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
States. President Joe Bi- heavily damaged in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Pine vors. She cautioned that said Saturday that multibil-
den and first lady Jill Biden Island, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. dangers remain. lionaire businessman Elon
plan to visit the state on Associated Press “We worry a lot about the Musk was providing some
Wednesday. direct impacts from the 120 Starlink satellites to
Flooded roadways and of basic amenities such to improve for several days storm itself as it is mak- “help bridge some of the
washed-out bridges to bar- as water, electricity and because all of the rain ing landfall, but we see so communication issues.”
rier islands left many people the internet. And officials that fell has nowhere to go many more injuries and Starlink, a satellite-based
isolated amid limited cell- warned that the situation in since waterways are over- sometimes more fatalities internet system created by
phone service and a lack many areas isn’t expected flowing. after the storm,” Criswell Musk’s SpaceX, will provide
said. “People need to stay high-speed connectivity.
vigilant right now. Stand- The bridge to Pine Island,
ing water brings with it all the largest barrier island off
kinds of hazards — it has Florida’s Gulf Coast, was
debris, it could have power destroyed by the storm,
lines, it could have hazards leaving it accessible only
in there that you just don’t by boat or air. Some flew
know about.” out by helicopter.
At least 54 people have An aerial photo of the
been confirmed dead: Mad Hatter Restaurant on
47 in Florida, four in North nearby Sanibel Island that
Carolina and three in was posted on social me-
Cuba. The weakened dia shows a mostly vacant
storm drifted north on Sun- patch of sand where the
day and was expected to restaurant used to be. The
dump rain on parts of Vir- staff is safe, according to
ginia, West Virginia, Mary- a message on the restau-
land and southern Penn- rant’s Facebook page.
sylvania, according to the “The Mad Hatter Restau-
National Hurricane Center, rant, unfortunately, is out at
which warned of the po- sea right now,” the Face-
tential for flash-flooding. book page reads.
More than 1,000 people “The best news from this
have been rescued from devastating scene is that
flooded areas along Flor- there is still land for us to re-
ida’s southwestern coast build.”
alone, Daniel Hokanson, a Fort Myers Mayor Kevin An-
four-star general and head derson on Sunday defend-
of the National Guard, told ed Lee County officials
The Associated Press. from accusations that they
In rural Seminole County, had been slow in order-
north of Orlando, residents ing evacuations on Tues-
donned waders, boots day ahead of the storm, a
and bug spray to paddle day later than some other
to their flooded homes on counties in the area did.
Sunday. “Warnings for hurricane
Ben Bertat found 4 inches season start in June. So
(10 centimeters) of water there’s a degree of person-
in his house by Lake Harney al responsibility here. I think
after kayaking there. the county acted appro-
“I think it’s going to get priately. The thing is, a cer-
worse because all of this tain percentage of people
water has to get to the will not heed the warnings
lake” said Bertat, pointing regardless,” Anderson said
to the water flooding a on the CBS show “Face the
nearby road. “With ground Nation.”q