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:

Here's how the news developed. All times Eastern.
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Sep 29, 5:50 AM EDT

Power outages spread to 2.5 million customers

More than 2.5 million customers were without power in Florida at about 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, the state’s providers said.

Sep 29, 5:09 AM EDT

Ian becomes tropical storm with 65 mph winds

Ian’s winds slowed to 65 mph early on Thursday morning, downgrading the system to a tropical storm, the National Hurricane Center said.

“The Hurricane Warnings along the east and west coasts of the Florida peninsula have been changed to Tropical Storm Warnings,” the center said.

-ABC News’ Max Golembo

Sep 29, 5:20 AM EDT

Biden and DeSantis update schedules for Thursday

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will be holding his next press conference on the latest developments of Hurricane Ian at 8:45 a.m. ET at the State Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee.

President Biden, meanwhile, will visit FEMA headquarters in Washington, D.C. to receive an update on Hurricane Ian at 12 p.m. ET.

While Hurricane Ian is expected to become a tropical storm on Thursday, the storm has battered southwest Florida and has left more than 2 million people without power so far.

Sep 29, 2:15 AM EDT

Ian now 75 mph Category 1 hurricane, expected to become tropical storm later this morning

As of the 2 a.m. ET advisory this morning, Ian continues to maintain its hurricane status.

However, it has weakened to a 75 mph Category 1 hurricane and is expected to become a tropical storm later this morning before emerging off of Florida’s east coast.

Ian’s new track will be issued and updated again at 5 a.m. ET.

-ABC News' Riley Winch