As search goes on, Floridians await OK to survey Ian's wrath

FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. (AP) — William Wellema has been living under a bridge for four days, waiting to get to Fort Myers Beach on Florida's Estero Island to see if his vacation home survived Hurricane Ian. On Friday, he was beyond frustrated as he continued to await permission to drive across.

“They’re saying it’s because of the rescue and recovery efforts," Wellema said of the closure. He drove down from Little Falls, New Jersey, with a pass he got at the beginning of hurricane season that was supposed to allow him onto the island after a storm.

Wellema was considering crossing by kayak at night. He is in touch with friends in other parts of the country waiting on his word to make their own journeys south. Their wait is a reminder that the death toll, already at 103, could still grow.

Fort Myers Beach Mayor Ray Murphy has said no one will be allowed back until emergency services crews finish “searching for people who are hurt or might need help amongst the rubble, and people who have passed” in the town of just over 7,000. First responders need space and time to do their job and “any extra vehicle and pedestrian traffic hampers and prolongs their efforts,” the statement said. They have not set a date for when residents can return.

The Florida Medical Examiners Commission has reported 94 storm-related deaths in Florida so far. Most were in the worst-hit Lee County that includes the greater Fort Myers area and nearby Gulf Coast islands. At least half of the confirmed victims in the state were 65 years and older and more than two-thirds were 50 and older. Five people were also killed in North Carolina, three in Cuba and one in Virginia.

Ian is the third-deadliest storm to hit the mainland United States in the 21st century, behind Hurricane Katrina, which left about...