Hurricane Ian updates: Florida death toll climbs

Lee County, which encompasses Fort Myers, accounts for most of the fatalities.

ByJulia Jacobo, Teddy Grant, Kevin Shalvey, Emily Shapiro, Melissa Gaffney, Meredith Deliso, Jon Haworth, Nadine El-Bawab, and Stephanie Guerilus
Last Updated: October 4, 2022, 7:27 AM EDT

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:

Here's how the news developed. All times Eastern.
Sep 28, 2022, 3:06 AM EDT

Ian moves closer to Florida’s west coast

Hurricane Ian was moving closer to Florida’s west coast, the National Hurricane Center said in its 2 a.m. ET update on the storm's position.

The eye of the Category 3 storm was about 95 miles southwest of Naples, Florida, and was moving north-northeast at about 10 mph, officials said.

“On the forecast track, the center of Ian is expected to approach the west coast of Florida within the hurricane warning area this morning, and move onshore later today,” the update said.

Officials said the storm was expected to pass over central Florida on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, before emerging over the Atlantic Ocean late Thursday.

The hurricane was “expected to cause life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds and flooding in the Florida peninsula,” the update said.

Sep 28, 2022, 2:28 AM EDT

Miami-Dade County suspends transit service

Officials in Miami-Dade County suspended transit services at 1 a.m. ET on Wednesday, as Hurricane Ian approached Florida.

Florida’s most populous county halted its Metrobus, Metrorail, Metromover and Special Transportation Services until further notice, officials said in a news release.

-ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway

Sep 28, 2022, 12:24 AM EDT

DeSantis tells Floridians time to evacuate is 'now'

Hurricane Ian is fast approaching Florida, and the time to leave is "now" if you're in an evacuation zone, Gov. Ron DeSantis said late Tuesday during a press conference.

"Your time to evacuate is coming to an end. You need to evacuate now. You're going to start feeling major impacts of this storm relatively soon," the governor said. "Now is the time to do it, and now is the time to act."

As of Tuesday night, about 8,000 people were without power in the southern part of Florida, officials said.

Conditions are expected to continue to deteriorate across central and south Florida, with landfall currently forecast sometime between Wednesday afternoon and early evening.

Elsewhere, a tropical storm warning is now in effect along the coast of Georgia and up to Charleston, S.C.

-ABC News' Darren Reynolds, Dan Peck

Sep 27, 2022, 10:31 PM EDT

Biden spoke with DeSantis, White House press secretary says

President Joe Biden spoke Tuesday night with Gov. Ron DeSantis ahead of Hurricane Ian's arrival "to discuss the steps the federal government is taking to help Florida prepare," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted.

"The president and the governor committed to continued close coordination," Jean-Pierre wrote.

-ABC News' Mary Bruce

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