The mainly harmless but moist remains of Hurricane Ian passed through Virginia early Sunday, leaving storm-ravaged citizens in Florida and the Carolinas facing tens of billions of dollars in disaster recovery.
The storm’s death toll was anticipated to grow as floodwaters receded and search crews went further into places previously shut off from the outside world, looking for stranded survivors and the remains of anyone who may have died.
At least 50 storm-related deaths have been documented since Ian made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150 miles (240 kilometres per hour).
Florida had the most fatalities, with 35 confirmed by the sheriff’s office in coastal Lee County, which took the brunt of the hurricane when it made landfall, and 11 more reported by state officials in four nearby counties.
At least four additional people died in North Carolina, according to authorities. There were no initial reports of deaths in South Carolina, where Ian made its second landfall in the United States on Friday.
Since then, Ian has weakened into a post-tropical cyclone, with the National Hurricane Center (NHC) dropping all remaining watches and warnings associated to the fading weather system by Saturday evening.
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