Hurricane Ian updates: Florida death toll climbs
Lee County, which encompasses Fort Myers, accounts for most of the fatalities.
The remnants of Ian are charging up the East Coast on Saturday after making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in South Carolina on Friday afternoon.
The monster storm made its first U.S. landfall on Wednesday on Florida's west coast as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, shredding homes with ferocious winds topping 150 mph. Florida's death toll has climbed to at least 81, according to information from local officials.
Latest headlines:
Thousands evacuated from nursing homes, hospitals
As of Thursday afternoon, 45 nursing homes were evacuated across Florida -- impacting about 3,500 residents -- as were 115 assisted-living facilities, according to the Florida Health Care Association.
Read more of our coverage here.
-ABC News' Mary Kekatos
FAA closes Fort Myers airspace
The FAA has issued a temporary flight restriction order over Fort Myers, Florida, "to provide a safe environment for Hurricane Ian search."
The airspace will remain closed through Friday.
- ABC News' Sam Sweeney
Punta Gorda issues boil water notice
Punta Gorda, Florida, issued a boil water notice Thursday in the wake of Hurricane Ian’s destructive path across Charlotte County, where at least six storm-related deaths were reported.
Ian is once again a Category 1 hurricane
Hurricane Ian is a Category 1 storm again as of early Thursday evening, with winds now at 75 mph.
Ian will keep strengthening and head north before taking a slight northwest turn into South Carolina. The National Hurricane Center track takes it almost directly into Charleston Friday during the early afternoon.
This would be the third mainland landfall of Ian -- first in Cuba, then in Florida, which technically had two landfalls on Wednesday, the first on Sanibel Island at Cayo Costa and the second at Punta Gorda.
-ABC News' Melissa Griffin and Daniel Amarante
