The dimensions of the destruction of Hurricane "Ian" were revealed at the end of the week, both in the scope of the enormous damage and in the number of victims in the soul that only steadily increases.
As you remember, the hurricane hit the west coast of Florida with a magnitude of 4 (and was very close to the highest category 5), and caused destruction in the form of huge floods and winds of almost 250 km/h that buried people under them.
Before and after photos, Reuters
This is one of the worst storms the US has known, and as of this evening (Saturday) 45 people have lost their lives in Florida - most of them from drowning. One tragic case involved an elderly couple who died as a result of the power cut, which caused their oxygen machine to stop working. "I want to stand In the corner and cry, I don't know what else can be done," said the resident of Fort Myers, the city that was directly hit by the hurricane on the west coast of Florida, looking at her apartment that was almost completely destroyed
At the end of the week, the storm already left Florida and hit the state of South Carolina in the USA, after which it weakened to the lowest level "post tropical cyclone" - that is, it is not a hurricane. However, it continued to create floods in the channel, which continued north to almost the east coast of the USA .
Downed trees and downed power lines caused another 280,000 households to be without power Saturday morning in the states of North and South Carolina.
It was expected to disappear completely overnight between Saturday and Sunday, when its last stop was supposed to be Virginia.
Over the weekend, President Joe Biden signed an emergency order that will allow federal resources to flow into the state to help with recovery.
Over a million Florida residents are still stranded due to power outages from the storm's torrential winds when it hit last week.
The Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, who is considered the hot name among Republicans as the party's presidential candidate if former President Donald Trump does not run, expressed himself positively and unusually towards the Biden administration over the weekend against the background of the help he received from Washington.
The extent of the destruction in Florida after Hurricane Ian, Reuters
"At the end of the day, I think there are people here who need help, and all the agencies — local, Florida, and the federal government — need to work together," DeSantis said Thursday at a press briefing, effectively reversing his criticism of Biden.
He said he deeply appreciates the fact that Biden and the agencies under him approved all the requests for assistance that came on behalf of Florida, and that the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, came to the state.
Biden also spoke out for unity and told the nation: "My message to Americans and to Florida in private is that we have to join ranks in America in moments like this, we will get through it together as one group, as one America," he said.
Florida, with almost 30 electoral votes, may decide the presidential election and is considered a swing state that is actually almost evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, and hence both Biden and DeSantis have an interest in publicly showing how much they are working to restore the country.
Biden and DeSantis spoke several times and, as mentioned, Biden declared a state of emergency at the request of DeSantis, to enable the rapid rehabilitation of the country and the flow of grants to citizens.
The president said that "Ian" was "perhaps the deadliest in the history of Florida" and that it would take "months and even years" to restore the destruction.
Biden said that the matter was during a visit to the control center of the Agency for Emergency Situations (FEMA), and added that "the numbers are still unclear, but we are receiving reports that there is a significant loss of life."
The deadliest storm to date in Florida was in 1928, with about 2500 dead.
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us