Hurricane Ian hit Florida's Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm, ripping through the region with sustained winds as high as 115 miles per hour and a storm surge so extreme that it drained the water from the shores.
The picture of Ian's destruction is already striking. Millions of homes and businesses are flooded and without power, and the bridge that connects the Lee County's Sanibel and Captiva Islands is said to have been left in pieces by Hurricane Matthew.
Those islands, along with a few others, are now only accessible by boat, making it difficult for rescue and clean-up operations.
According to the Miami Herald, the Sanibel Causeway was completely torn away, while the mainland road that feeds into it is folding up. Pine Island's causeway is impassible.
According to the Miami Herald, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said during a Thursday press briefing that Lee and Charlotte are off the grid at this point. Federal rescue assistance will be dispatched as soon as possible, but it's not clear when that will happen.
Ben Abes, director of the Lee County Public Safety, told the Fort Meyers News-Press that they are aware of a number of calls from people who are stranded. We are not able to respond right now because of the conditions.
The toll of the storm is only beginning.
"This is going to be very difficult, trying time for the next few months," Roger Desjarlais said. The response and recovery effort will be complex, costly and very concentrated by federal state and local government agencies and the private sector.
Hurricane Ian left a trail of misery as it traveled through Southwest Florida.
Space station flies over Hurricane and shows what it looks like.
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