Five days after Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida, bringing with it a deadly storm surge, catastrophic flooding and powerful winds, the death and destruction it wrought are starting to become clearer.
(Bloomberg) — Five days after Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida, bringing with it a deadly storm surge, catastrophic flooding and powerful winds, the death and destruction it wrought are starting to become clearer.
The overall death toll from Ian had climbed to at least 68 as of early Monday, according to the Associated Press. Insured losses have risen to as much as $57 billion, according to modeler Verisk. On Wednesday, President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Florida to survey the damage from what he described as one of the worst storms to ever hit the US. But first, he is headed to Puerto Rico, where he is announcing more than $60 million in funding to help the island rebuild after Hurricane Fiona.
The National Hurricane Service discontinued its updates on Ian over the weekend after it had weakened to a post-tropical cyclone. By Saturday, the system had “fully dissipated,” according to the National Weather Service.
Insurer of Last Resort Can Absorb Ian Claims Costs (11:40 a.m. NY)
Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Florida’s state-backed insurer of last resort, said it won’t need to charge its policyholders or taxpayers to cover claims brought on by Hurricane Ian.
The insurer is facing more than 225,000 claims and $1.9 billion to $3.7 billion in losses, Citizens spokesman Michael Peltier said Monday in an email. State law requires the company to levy assessments when it experiences deficits in the wake of a major storm or disaster.
Florida’s homeowners insurance market is in disarray, with companies entering insolvency or halting policy issuance, and Citizens has been forced to pick up the slack. The company accounts for slightly more than 10% of the market by premiums written.
Florida Utility Aims to Restore Power by Friday (11:15 a.m. NY)
Florida Power & Light, the state’s largest utility, said it plans to have power restored to almost all of its customers by late Friday if all goes well, Chief Executive Officer Eric Silagy said in a Monday briefing with reporters.
The utility, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc., still has several thousand customers without power, Silagy said. FPL initially focused on restoring power to critical infrastructure such as water treatment centers and emergency responders, the CEO said.
“It’s been 76 hours since Ian, which was a monster storm, left Florida,” Silagy said. Since then the utility has restored power to 1.8 million customers, which is 83% of all those affected, he said. “We’re going to be able to get this done faster than I thought.”
As utilities across Florida work to restore power, about 600,000 homes and businesses remain in the dark, according to PowerOutage.us.
Flooded Groves Are Putting Citrus Crop at Risk (10:51 a.m. NY)
Initial damage estimates to Florida groves from Hurricane Ian are pointing to a significant crop loss from high winds, pushing orange juice futures to the highest in almost six years in New York. The contracts soared 4.8% to edge past $2 a pound, the highest since mid-December 2016.
Mixon Fruit Farms, a family operated coastal citrus producer based just south of Tampa, is still without power days after the hurricane.
“It looks like about 30% of the fruit was knocked off the tree,” Janet Mixon said, referring to orchards located in the hard-hit Manatee County. “The oranges are now laying under the tree.”
Flooding from the storm is also threatening the long-term health of citrus trees, Ray Royce, executive director at Highlands County Citrus Growers Association, said in a Monday interview.
“There is so much water standing for so many days, it can kill roots and trees,” he said by phone, adding that uprooting and broken trees are also being reported in producing areas.
Climate Change Made Ian’s Rainfall Worse (8:21 a.m. NY)
Climate change made Hurricane Ian’s most extreme rainfall about 10% worse than it would have been without two centuries of greenhouse gas pollution, according to a first-take analysis of the storm by two US climate researchers. The rapid analysis by Michael Wehner of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Kevin Reed of Stony Brook University was shared on Twitter.
Wehner said the quick look at Hurricane Ian turned out to be “a little more interesting” scientifically than he had expected.
About 613,000 in Florida Are Still Without Power (7:45 a.m. NY)
Just over 613,000 customers in Florida still have no electricity as of early Monday morning, according to PowerOutage.us. Crews have already restored power to some 1.8 million customers across the state, figures from the Florida Division of Emergency Management show. In Puerto Rico, more than 120,000 are without power.
Insured Losses Mount From Ian’s Devastation (6:05 a.m. NY)
Verisk estimated that insured losses to onshore property from Ian will range from $42 billion to $57 billion. That includes wind, storm surge and inland flood losses resulting from both of Ian’s landfalls in Florida and South Carolina.
Wind damage accounts for the majority of the loss estimate, totaling anywhere from $38 billion to $51 billion. Ian’s storm surge likely racked up $3 billion to $5.5 billion in insured losses and inland flooding less than $1 billion.
Death Toll From Ian Rises to At least 68 (4:44 a.m. NY)
At least 68 people have been confirmed dead: 61 in Florida, four in North Carolina and three in Cuba, the Associated Press reported. Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told the news wire that the federal government was ready to help in a “huge way,” focusing first on victims in Florida, which took the brunt of one of the strongest storms to make landfall in the United States.
More than 640,000 in Florida Still Without Power (11:34 p.m. NY)
More than 640,000 customers in Florida are still without power, according to PowerOutage.us. Electricity has been restored to more than 1.8 million user accounts across the state, figures from the Florida Division of Emergency Management showed on Sunday.
Governor Ron DeSantis visited the cities of North Port and Arcadia over the weekend, where flooding hasn’t subsided, according to local media reports.
Lee County Reports 42 Deaths Amid Rising Florida Toll (6:32 p.m. NY)
The death toll in Florida is rising, though the numbers remained uncertain and incomplete amid ongoing searches through masses of wreckage.
In Lee County, on the state’s southwest coast, Sheriff Carmine Marceno said on Sunday that 42 people had died there.
“We have buildings, multiple-floor buildings that have been washed out, OK? It is incomprehensible what we’re looking at,” Marceno said. “Those numbers could go up. I don’t know. I pray and hope that they don’t.”
On Saturday night, the Florida Medical Examiners Commission released a count of 44 dead across the state, including 30 in Lee County. The commission had not updated the toll on Sunday.
Florida Cell Service Returning With Gaps in Hard-Hit Areas (3:51 p.m. NY)
Cell-service has been restored across most of Florida, though the hardest-hit counties are still experiencing significant zones without signal, according to a report from the Federal Communications Commission Sunday.
The report listed the top counties by percentage with cell sites still not operational: DeSoto 38.5%; Hardee 33.3%; Charlotte 20.2%; and Lee 19.5%.
Governor Ron DeSantis announced Saturday that Elon Musks’s SpaceX will deploy 120 units of its Starlink satellites to southwest Florida to provide Internet service for those affected.
More Than 820,000 in Florida Remain Without Power (1:12 p.m.)
About 822,000 customers remain without power in Florida, according to PowerOutage.US. That’s a recovery from the peak of 2.7 million customers without power after Hurricane Ian made landfall in southwest Florida on Wednesday.
In North Carolina, where the storm hit on Friday, there are close to 21,000 customers without power.
‘Old Florida’ Flattened by Hurricane, Rubio Says (12:21 p.m.)
Some of Florida’s oldest and most popular beach destinations devastated by Hurricane Ian will never look the same, Senator Marco Rubio said on Sunday.
Fort Myers Beach, a seaside tourist town, “no longer exists,” Rubio said on ABC’s “This Week.” Sanibel Island, another barrier island along Florida’s southwest coast, has also been ravaged, he said.
“This is a character-altering event,” he said.
FEMA Head Warns of Post-Storm Hazards (9:50 a.m.)
People working to clean up after Hurricane Ian need to “stay vigilant right now” because of the potential danger amid debris, downed power lines and other hazards, warned Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“We see so many more injuries and sometimes more fatalities after the storm, because there are so many dangers out there,” Criswell said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Standing water brings with it all kinds of hazards…We want to make sure that people are being extra cautious.”
Biden to Visit Puerto Rico, Florida (10:39 p.m.)
President Joe Biden will travel to Puerto Rico on Monday and Florida on Wednesday to survey the damage there after vowing to commit the full strength of the federal government to recovery efforts in the wake of two devastating hurricanes.
The president will be accompanied by the first lady, the White House said.
Ian Expected to End by Sunday Morning (5:12 p.m.)
Storm Ian is expected to dissipate on Sunday morning, the National Weather Service said in an update. By 5 p.m., the storm had slowed over Virginia, moving east-northeast at about 6 miles an hour with maximum sustained winds near 25 miles per hour, the service reported.
Central Florida will continue to experience “major to record” river flooding through next week. Areas of Maryland and West Virginia may also experience several inches of rain into Sunday morning, with the potential of some flooding.
Four Die in North Carolina (4:06 p.m.)
Four storm-related deaths were reported in North Carolina: one drowning, two in vehicle accidents and one poisoned by carbon monoxide from a generator, Governor Roy Cooper’s office reported.
Power was restored to about half the 418,000 customers who had lost electricity on Friday night, his office said in a press release Saturday.
No Deaths in South Carolina, Governor Says (3:09 p.m.)
South Carolina suffered no deaths despite being hit by winds as high as 92 miles an hour from Hurricane Ian on Friday, Governor Henry McMaster said in a press briefing Saturday. Unlike Florida, there has been relatively little flooding, and most electricity has already been restored, he said.
“We know that we have much cleaning up and rebuilding to do,” McMaster said. “There’s some heartbreak, there’s work to be done. But all in all it’s a good story.”
Florida Governor Says Flooding Did Most Damage (2:47 p.m. NY)
Florida suffered more damage from flooding caused by Hurricane Ian than strong winds, Governor Ron DeSantis said Saturday.
“When you’ve got a torrent of water coming in, there’s really nothing you can do about that, so that’ll require a lot of flood claims being filed,” DeSantis said at a news briefing in Fort Myers.
DeSantis added that nearly 55% of power has been restored to those affected by power outages. Power has been restored to 1.5 million customers serviced by Florida Power & Light, with another 650,000 customers still without power, said FPL president and chief executive officer Eric Silagy.
Biden Briefed on Damage, Restoration of Power and Water (2:26 p.m.)
President Joe Biden was briefed by advisers including Chief of Staff Ron Klain on the damage from the storm, focusing on power and water restoration in Florida and damage in South Carolina, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a tweet.
Ian Weakens as It Moves North (12:15 a.m.)
Post-tropical cyclone Ian continued to weaken midday Saturday as it moved north through North Carolina and toward Virginia, according to a National Weather Service update at 11 a.m.
Maximum sustained winds slowed to to 25 mph (40 kph), the service reported. Another 1-3 inches or rain was expected to fall across the central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic, “with local heavier amounts possible.”
Across central Florida, “major to record river flooding” is expected over the next week.
Biden Calls Storm Damage ‘Among Worst’ Ever in US (10:41 a.m.)
President Biden said the damage from storm Ian “is likely to rank among the worst” in US history.
Few Florida Homes Covered for Flooding (9:12 a.m.)
A majority of Florida homeowners caught in the hurricane’s path now face rebuilding without the benefit of flood insurance — and some might not even realize they’re uncovered.
Only 18% of all Florida homes — of which there more than 10 million, per census data — have flood insurance, according to the Insurance Information Institute. And some property owners harbor the misconception that policies protecting against damage from wind and rain will also apply to losses brought on by rising water.
Officials in Florida County Delayed Evacuation, NYT Says (3:53 a.m.)
Emergency officials in Lee County, Florida, only issued a mandatory evacuation order for the areas likely to be hit the most by Hurricane Ian on Tuesday, giving residents less time to evacuate, the New York Times reported.
While much of the areas set to be affected had told their residents to flee on Monday, Lee County officials opted to wait to see how forecasts for the hurricane evolved overnight. At least 16 storm-related deaths have been identified in Lee County, the highest toll anywhere in the state, the newspaper said.
Biden Declares Emergency in North Carolina (1:51 a.m.)
US President Joe Biden has declared an emergency in the state of North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Ian, and ordered federal assistance to supplement response efforts, according to a statement released by the White House.
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