Hurricane Ian pummeled through Florida Wednesday, devastating an entire state. The storm has been referred to as a “500-year flood event” due to its unusual strength.
Hundreds are feared dead according to Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno, though nothing has yet been confirmed.
“This is a life-changing event for all of us,” Marceno said. “I don’t have confirmed numbers — I definitely know the fatalities are in the hundreds.”
“There are thousands of people that are waiting to be rescued. And again, cannot get a true assessment until we’re actually on scene assessing each scene, and we can’t access people, that’s the problem,” he said.
Many people who had the bunker-down mentality revealed that within a 10-minute span, their streets and homes had been flooded and they realized there was no quick point of escape.
Schools, hospitals and fire stations have all been left abandoned due to flood damage.
Here are nearly two dozen haunting photos that show the aftermath of Hurricane Ian — and the havoc it wreaked on various kinds of property, especially people’s homes and the areas they call home.
