At Least 21 People Are Dead and Thousands Are Unaccounted for as Hurricane Ian Is Set to Make Second Landfall
At least 21 people are dead, and thousands of people could be missing after Hurricane Ian battered Florida this week.
One death has been confirmed in Polk County, and 20 others are unconfirmed between Charlotte and Collier Counties, Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said at a press conference on Friday, per NBC affiliate WFLA-TV.
Up to 10,000 people may still be unaccounted for as well, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Hurricane Ian made landfall as an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 150 mph on Wednesday just after 3 p.m. local time, near Cayo Costa, Fla., according to the National Hurricane Center.
By Thursday morning, more than 2.5 million people in Florida were without power as a result of the widespread devastation caused by the storm, which snapped apart trees, leveled homes and tore down power lines across the coastline. Storm surges reached nearly 7 ft. high in areas like Fort Myers, while 12 ft. water levels were recorded in Naples.
For more on Hurricane Ian, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.
"We've never seen storm surge of this magnitude," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters Friday. "The amount of water that's been rising, and will likely continue to rise today even as the storm is passing, is basically a 500-year flooding event."
President Joe Biden said Ian "could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida's history" during an address from FEMA headquarters on Thursday.
"The numbers we have are still unclear, but we're hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life," the president added. "We know many families are hurting. Many, many, are hurting today."
Search and rescue operations began around 1 a.m. Thursday morning, according to a press release from DeSantis' office.
By Thursday afternoon, more than 700 people had been rescued in both Charlotte and Lee Counties alone, per the governor's office.
RELATED: Hurricane Ian: How to Help with Disaster Relief Efforts as Catastrophic Storm Makes Landfall
Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty
However, the death toll is expected to rise in the coming days as search and rescue missions take place across the state.
Eight of the unconfirmed deaths have been reported in Collier County, and 12 in Charlotte County, according to WFLA-TV and the Sentinel.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free weekly newsletter to get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.
Initial reports suggest that at least two deaths have been reported in in Lee County, as well as two in Sarasota County and one in Volusia County, per the Sentiel.
A 72-year-old man from Deltona died after going outside to drain his pool, the Volusia County Sheriff's Department said in a news release on Thursday.
Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty
During a Thursday appearance on Good Morning America, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said "fatalities are in the hundreds," according to the Fort Meyers News-Press and Tallahassee Democrat.
He later clarified to CNN that the numbers were still "very preliminary," according to The New York Times.
Determining the official number of fatalities and missing people is a difficult task in wake of disasters as significant as Hurricane Ian.
During Friday's press conference, Guthrie warned that death tolls may not be entirely accurate immediately after storms like Ian, according to WFLA-TV.
"People die in disasters that have nothing to do with the disaster," Guthrie said, per the outlet. "The medical examiner is the one that makes that determination."
Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency via Getty Fort Myers Beach after Hurricane Ian
DeSantis has activated 5,000 Florida Guardsmen to assist in the response to Hurricane in, as well as 2,000 Guardsmen from nearby states, per Thursday's press release.
Various agencies are assisting with search and rescue missions, including the National Guard, the Coast Guard, the Missouri Task Force 1 Disaster Situational Assessment and Reconnaissance (DSAR) Team, and more.
