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:
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
2.3 million customers without power, Florida providers say
Florida's electric providers said more than 2.3 million customers were without power at about 2 a.m. local time.
Florida Power & Light, the state's largest provider, reported more than 1.1 million outages for its 5.7 million customers.
“Hurricane Ian’s catastrophic winds will mean parts of our system will need to be rebuilt -- not restored,” the company said on Twitter late Wednesday. “Be prepared for widespread, extended outages as we are assessing the damage. We are already at work restoring power where we can do so safely.”
-ABC News’ Keith Harden
Portions of Fort Myers under up to 4 feet of water
Portions of Fort Myers are under up to 4 feet of water, the city said late Wednesday night, and residents are being told to stay inside as first responders try and assess the damage from Hurricane Ian.
"We need to ensure that the roads are clear so that our first responders and our assistance crews can go out there and help everyone that needs us," the city wrote on Twitter. "PLEASE, please, please stay inside."
Jacksonville airport cancels all flights Thursday
Jacksonville International Airport has canceled all flights for Thursday and the terminal will be closed.
-ABC News' Ahmad Hemingway
'We've never seen a flood event like this,' Florida governor says
Hurricane Ian caused extensive and "historic" impact and damage in across Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a press conference Thursday.
"The impacts of this storm are historic and the damage that was done has been historic and this is just off initial assessments. There's going to be a lot more assessing that goes on in the days ahead," DeSantis said.
"But I think we've never seen a flood event like this. We've never seen storm surge of this magnitude and it hit an area where there's a lot of people in a lot of those low-lying areas and it's going to end up doing extensive damage to a lot of people's homes," he said.
As of 6 a.m., there are 2.02 million customers without power, according to DeSantis.
DeSantis said Charlotte and Lee counties are "basically off the grid at this point." The areas will likely need a rebuilding of their infrastructure.