State officials are trying to confirm whether those deaths were “linked to the storm.” But DeSantis said, “our assumption is that it likely is.”
The governor said reports of numbers of fatalities were unconfirmed.
DeSantis said several people on the barrier islands of Lee and Charlotte counties were rescued by helicopter early Thursday morning. The area experienced “massive inundation,” he said. Rescues are also underway in low-lying areas along the Collier County coast and even inland, in areas such as Fort Myers, he said.
“We are hoping that they can be rescued at this point,” DeSantis said at a press briefing in Tallahassee at the state’s emergency operations center.
More than 15,000 people have notified the state that they are sheltering in place in high-risk areas, said Kevin Guthrie, Florida’s emergency management director.
In Lee County, hundreds of people were calling 911 because water was rising in their homes, DeSantis said. Some had to go up to their attics and expressed worry, he said.
“Of course, those folks are now going to be checked on and so I think we will have more clarity about that in the next day or so,” DeSantis said. “My sense is that the water was very, very high. But my hope is that if folks did go higher... we are now in a situation where if you’re there, they want to come get you.”
The causeway to Sanibel and Captiva islands in Lee County was damaged and impassable.
DeSantis warned that the situation remains hazardous, and urged people to remain home, and said “help is on the way” in the hardest-hit areas.
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