3 People Remain Missing in Fort Myers After Hurricane Ian, Florida Sheriff Says

Hurricane Ian damage in Fort Myers Beach.Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty

In an update on Tuesday, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said that officials currently have “3 missing person reportsin regard to the hurricane.”

Marceno also said that since Sept. 27, the day before the powerful stormmade landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, officials have responded to 4,866 well-being checks.

At least 127 fatalities have been reported in Florida due to the storm, according toABC News. As of Tuesday, Marceno said that 61 deaths have been reported in Lee County alone.

Additionally,five people died in North Carolina, according to Gov. Roy Cooper.

Hurricane Ian damage in Cayo Costa, Florida, located west of Fort Myers.RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP/Getty

As the powerful hurricane came ashore with sustained winds of 150 mph, storm surges reached nearly 7 ft. high in areas like Fort Myers, while 12 ft. water levels were recorded in Naples.

“We’ve never seen storm surge of this magnitude,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters at the time. “The amount of water that’s been rising, and will likely continue to rise today even as the storm is passing, is basically a500-year flooding event.”

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Florida residents in Hurricane Ian’s path sharedharrowing stories of survival and losswith PEOPLE.

When Fort Myers resident Stan Pentz phoned his daughter for help, the water was already up to his shoulders and he couldn’t get out. “The last thing I heard my dad say was, ‘I think I’m going to drown,’ " said Downing, a 32-year-old physical therapist.

For the next 20 hours, she lived in fear for the worst — but after finally gaining access to the internet, she saw a message from her stranger informing her that her father was alright.

“My sister fell to the ground crying,” said Downing. “I just fell into a chair with my head in my hands, saying, ‘Oh my God, he’s alive.'”

Hurricane Ian damage in Fort Myers Beach.Joe Raedle/Getty

The loved ones ofScott Lumley, 65, were not as lucky.

Although his sister, Nancy Arbelo, begged him to leave, she said her brother — who only had partial use of his arms and legs, used a cane and spoke with a stutter because of the lingering effects of a serious car accident — decided to remain in Fort Myers Beach. He and some friends were going to ride out the storm together, but as the storm hit, floodwaters began creeping up the steps of the bungalow.

Two days after their last conversation, Arbelo learned of her brother’s death from law enforcement officers. “Everybody on the island knew my brother,” she told PEOPLE. “He was just a big guy, a gentle giant. He had a heart of gold and never said a bad word about anybody.”

As a result of the widespread devastation, the morning after the storm hit,more than 2.5 million people in Floridawerewithout power.

That weekend, officials said that while they hoped to expediently restore power to most Floridians, it could be “weeks or months until some residents of southwest Florida are back online, according toNaples Daily News.

Over 11,000 people in Lee County are still without power as of Wednesday, according toPowerOutage.us.

In addition to causing billions of dollars in damage, the storm has left some Florida residents struggling to come to terms with how they can possibly rebuild what they lost, according to theAssociated Press.

“Some people have lost everything, maybe the walls of their home may be still standing, but they’re uninhabitable,” Beth Hatch, a CEO of a local branch of the National Alliance of Mental Illness, told the news agency.

Added Hatch, “When someone’s in a state of trauma that so many are in, they don’t know where to begin.”

source: people.com