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:
Desolation, and relief, in Key West
Key West did not escape hardship, but in Ian's wake, many Key West residents have expressed relief that the coastal city hadn't endured far worse.
The path of the then-Category 4 hurricane veered west of Key West, sparing it the strongest of the storm's impact. Flooding was reported in nearly 100 apartments. Though the city suffered no casualties or uptick in emergency room visits, Alyson Crean, a public officer with the Key West Fire Department, told ABC News. The city largely returned to normal on Friday, as businesses and schools reopened.
The mix of desolation and relief in Key West embodies the range of fates across Florida, where some communities escaped largely unscathed while others saw tragedy.
"We were relieved when we saw that the storm was turning a different way," Jennifer McComb, the chief executive at the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys, told ABC News. "For a while, it looked like it could've been a direct hit."
Read more here.
-ABC News' Max Zahn
A search for a survivor told on social media
As Hurricane Ian was bearing down on southwestern Florida Wednesday, Beth Booker received photos and videos showing Ian's storm surge starting to fill her mother's Fort Myers home.
Then, shortly after the storm made landfall in Florida, the updates stopped.
Unable to communicate with her mom, Carole McDanel, any longer, Booker turned to Twitter, using the hashtag #GetCaroleHome and asked her followers for help.
Some 24 hours later, Booker tweeted the news that McDanel had been found.
Read more about their emotional reunion here.
Ian death toll in Florida at least 33: Analysis
There have been at least 33 storm-related deaths due to Ian in Florida, ABC News has determined based on information from the Florida Medical Examiners Commission and inquiries with local officials and authorities.
That includes 16 deaths in Lee County, six in Charlotte County, four in Volusia County, three in Collier County, two in Sarasota County, and one each in Lake and Manatee counties.
Earlier Friday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said there were 21 deaths from Ian, of which 20 were unconfirmed because they were spotted during search and rescue operations and crews were told to prioritize those found alive and still trapped.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Friday evening that there are 10 confirmed deaths attributed to Ian across in Lake, Sarasota, Manatee, Volusia and Collier counties. The causes of death were primarily drownings, as well as two vehicle accidents and a roof accident. The tally, confirmed by the Medical Examiners Commission, does not include any fatalities from hard-hit Lee or Charlotte counties.
It is unclear whether the state's figures overlap with ABC News' analysis.
-ABC News' Ahmad Hemingway, Alex Faul and Benjamin Stein
Nearly 350,000 customers without power in Carolinas
As Ian moves north, more than 161,000 customers in North Carolina and more than 187,000 customers in South Carolina are without power.
More than 1.68 million people are still without power in Florida.
Caribbean Islands to start experiencing effects from Ian by Monday
Caribbean islands such as Jamaica and Grand Cayman will start to experience the effects from the outer bands of Tropical Storm Ian within the next 24 hours, forecasts show. The islands will experience conditions such as heavy rain, possible flash flooding and storm surge.
The storm system will begin to rapidly intensify overnight into Monday before it closes in on western Cuba on Monday night.
As of 2 p.m., the sustained winds in the tropical storm remained at 50 mph as it moved west-northwest at 12 mph, the center about 265 miles away from Grand Cayman.
Hurricane warnings are in effect for Grand Cayman and western Cuba, while tropical storm warnings and watches are in effect in other portions of both islands.
As a hurricane, Ian is expected to peak at a Category 4 before weakening slightly as it looks to make landfall on the west coast or panhandle of Florida in the coming days.
There is still some uncertainty to the track Ian will take once the system enters the Gulf of Mexico.
The center of the storm and the worst of the impacts could end up heading toward the western coast of Florida's peninsula, including the Tampa area. The other possible scenario has the storm moving more due north and bringing a possible landfall along the Florida peninsula, impacting cities like Panama City and Tallahassee with more direct effects.
The storm will begin to impact the Florida keys and the southern portions of the state by Tuesday night.
-ABC News' Dan Peck