The damage left behind in Hurricane Ian’s wake is obvious: the boats piled up in the streets in Fort Myers, the pier ripped in half in Naples.
What authorities in Florida don’t know yet is how many people died.
US President Joe Biden has warned that Ian – which hit on Wednesday as a category four storm – could be the deadliest in the state’s history.
The focus has now turned to a massive search and rescue operation as Ian heads towards North and South Carolina.
So far, more than 700 people had been rescued from Charlotte and Lee Counties, the two worst hit areas, Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis said on Thursday. He warned both counties had been left basically “off the grid” following power outages, which hours later were still affecting some 2.2 million homes and businesses across the state.
However, he refused to speculate on the number who may have been killed, and it is unclear how many people are still awaiting help. In particular, there are fears for two barrier islands, just off the coast, which were “hit with really biblical storm surges” but remained cut off from the mainland, Mr DeSantis said.
Joseph Tiseo, a Charlotte County commissioner, confirmed that they had recorded at least 10 deaths since the “brutal” storm – although it was unclear how many were as a direct result of the hurricane. First responders were still trying to reach some of those who had called for help hours earlier, he said.
“We had a bunch of calls coming in when the storm was approaching, but we had to shut down 911 operations because we couldn’t put our first responders on the roads during a hurricane event,” he explained.
Elsewhere, survivors described how the flooding had trapped them in their homes, facing life or death decisions as the water gushed in.
In Fort Myers, Charlotte County, Janelle Thil was forced to swim to safety when her ground-floor apartment began to flood.
“[My neighbours] got my dogs and then I jumped out of the window and swam,” the 42-year-old told news agency AFP.
Even homes further inland found themselves flooded. In Orlando, as much as 35cm (14ins) of rain fell, with rescuers going door to door to get people out of their homes.
But some did not have the luxury of waiting for help.
“You have to either swim or drown,” one woman in Orlando told CBS News, after escaping her home through a window.
Back in Fort Myers, Patrick Hallquist told media that the storm surge was “the worst” he had ever seen – despite having been “in quite a few hurricanes”. Gov DeSantis described the surge as having caused a “500-year flood event”.
Before and after pictures show the level of damage done, turning roads into rivers, destroying bridges, and wiping out entire communities of mobile homes.
“It was terrifying because you’re helpless,” Kim, who lives at the Sun Seekers mobile home park in Fort Myers, told the media that as she waded through the debris left behind. “We had no [phone] service to call anyone – but no one would have come anyway.”