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:
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
At least 9 dead in hurricane
At least nine people have now been reported dead in Florida due to Hurricane Ian.
Charlotte County Commissioner Chris Constance confirmed there are six fatalities in that county. Constance said this is the worst storm damage he has ever seen.
Two deaths have also been confirmed in Sarasota County.
One death was recorded in Volusia County when a 72-year-old man trying to drain his pool was washed away by floodwaters.
-ABC News' Will Gretsky
Hundreds rescued from flooding across Florida
More than 500 people have been rescued in Charlotte and Lee counties since rescue operations began Thursday morning, Florida's Division of Emergency Management said. Search and rescue operations are still ongoing in those two counties.
There have been about 350 people rescued so far in Orlando, officials said. Among those were 106 people rescued from an Avante Group nursing home.
The city received 14 inches of rain from the storm, according to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, overflowing lakes and flooding neighborhoods in the inland city.
The U.S. Coast Guard had rescued more than 30 people over the last 24 hours, according to Adm. Linda Fagan.
"We live in these same communities that we're now responding to and supporting," Fagan told ABC News. "The Coast Guard workforce is really at its best in times like these, as we respond as an immediate, first-response agency."
FEMA Urban Search and Rescue teams are also assisting in search and rescue efforts, checking homes and gathering information on buildings hit by Hurricane Ian, Jeremy Edwards, FEMA press secretary, told ABC News.
Search and rescue teams from Ohio, Indiana and Texas are searching and surveying the Tampa Bay area, while two teams from Virginia are in Punta Gorda, according to Edwards.
-ABC News' Victoria Arancio
Hurricane Ian now Category 1 storm
Ian continues to gradually weaken as it moves across the Florida Peninsula, now a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds down to 90 mph. The storm is moving to the north-northeast at 8 mph, and the center is currently about 70 miles south of Orlando.
While Ian is weakening, it's still bringing widespread dangerous weather impacts across the state.
-ABC News' Dan Peck