The Florida Division of Emergency Management confirmed on Thursday there have been over 500 people rescued in Charlotte and Lee Counties, which are among the hardest hit areas by Hurricane Ian.
Search & Rescue Update: As of 2:00 PM (EST), more than 500 individuals have been rescued in Charlotte & Lee Counties since operations began this morning.
— FL Division of Emergency Management (@FLSERT) September 29, 2022
Search & Rescue efforts are ongoing in impacted areas.#HurricaneIan pic.twitter.com/P0oUGprZMY
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) said search and rescue operations began around 1:00 A.M. on Thursday.
Since 1AM, search and rescue operations have been underway in response to #HurricaneIan.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 29, 2022
Thanks to @FLTF2USAR for being the first on-site and to the U.S. Coast Guard for their great efforts.
There are also over 42,000 linemen responding to the more than 1.9 million reported power outages in the state. They have already restored power to more than 700,000 accounts in Southwest Florida, according to DeSantis' office.
Other search and rescue assets include:
- USAR teams with more than 800 team members performing search and rescue.
- Florida National Guard members conducting Liaison missions in 20 counties to support and coordinate emergency response missions and requests in those counties.
- Florida National Guard engineering resources were deployed to assist with route clearance in Pinellas and Lee Counties.
- A total of 5,000 Florida Guardsmen have been activated to State Active Duty for Hurricane Ian response operations. Up to 2,000 Guardsmen from neighboring states are also activated to assist.
For people who are wanting to volunteer or donate to help out Floridians, they are encouraged to visit www.volunteerflorida.org.