Hurricane Ian death toll rises as Biden prepares to tour worst-hit areas

The death toll from Hurricane Ian continued a grim and steady climb on Tuesday, as officials in Florida laid out the next stages of the recovery effort and Joe Biden prepared to tour some of the worst-hit areas.

Unofficial figures have recorded more than 100 killed by the category 4 storm that swept Florida last week before making a second deadly US landfall in South Carolina.

The sheriff said he was grateful to national guard and federal personnel, as well as volunteer rescue workers, for easing the burden on his department.

More than 1,900 people had been rescued throughout the state by Monday night, authorities said.

Biden will meet the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, in Fort Myers on Wednesday and also tour the south-west of the state to see firsthand the damage wreaked by just one of several powerful storms to strike the US mainland in recent years.

Some early estimates calculate losses from Ian in Florida at around $55bn, while some insurance industry analysts say the final figure could be far higher, placing it among the costliest storms in US history.

On Tuesday morning, about 430,000 households and businesses were still without power across Florida, mostly in the south-west where Ian made its first US landfall, three days after raking Cuba. Residents in some areas have been warned restoration could take weeks.

Florida national guard officials said that while efforts to find survivors continued, and more than 5,000 troops were deployed, relief and recovery operations were beginning.

At his afternoon press conference, DeSantis told reporters four people had been charged with looting.

Marceno outlined a three-phase recovery effort, with advanced logistical planning taking place alongside humanitarian missions. It included a temporary ferry service between the mainland and Sanibel and Captiva islands, which were cut off by the collapse of the Sanibel causeway.

Tales of heroism and dramatic rescues after the storm, meanwhile, continued to emerge, including a son who swam through a half-mile of debris-filled water to save his 84-year-old mother, a double amputee, from her flooded home in Naples.