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"No Trespassing - Looters Will Be Shot" reads this sign in devastated Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
Five days after Hurricane Ian, some local residents are refusing to give up their destroyed homes.
They fear looting and try to save what is left of their lives.
“The biggest fear is that once we're gone, we won't be able to come back. I mean we lost everything. But, you know, the things that we get, like clothes, you know, we don't want to lose that too. We lost everything. But we all survived.«
»Take small steps, small steps, and we will make it and we will help our neighbors to make it too. We're just overwhelmed because everyone needs help.«
According to the latest information, more than 100 people have died as a result of the hurricane - more than half of them in Lee County alone.
On Monday, the "Search and Rescue teams" again combed tens of thousands of houses on the Gulf Coast for survivors, injured and dead.
Kevin Guthrie, Director of Operations
“I won't say we can't find anyone anymore. We may yet find people.”
Criticism, meanwhile, was raised against the authorities in Lee County.
Other authorities along the coast had long since called for evacuations, and Lee County waited until Tuesday morning.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis initially dismissed the case at a press conference.
Reporter:
"When the dust settles, are you willing to order a formal review of how Lee County officials handled the evacuation orders?"
Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida:
'Well, of course you'll check everything we do in these storms. I mean, that's how it works. Part of the reason we have all these electricians and we're getting power back in record time is because we learned from Irma and some of these other storms that weren't really bad, but we were like, how can we do better make?"
Ian is considered one of the strongest storms to hit the United States, with winds reaching 150 mph.
According to risk analysts, the total economic damage could amount to more than 100 billion dollars.