The aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Matlacha, Florida
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)US officials have pledged to provide the largest ever amount of federal disaster aid as crews scramble to rescue people still trapped by floodwaters from Hurricane Ian.
Days after the storm tore through central Florida water levels continue to rise in some flooded areas, washing out homes and streets.
The death toll continued to rise and hundreds of thousands of people are still without power in Florida and North and South Carolina.
Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the government was ready to help in a huge way, focusing first on victims in Florida, which took the brunt of one of the strongest storms to make landfall in the US.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden plan to visit the state on Wednesday.
Flooded roads and washed-out bridges to barrier islands left many people isolated amid limited mobile phone service and a lack of basic amenities such as water, electricity and the internet.
Officials warned that the situation in many areas is not expected to improve for several days because all the rain that fell has nowhere to go as waterways are overflowing.
Nearly 850,000 homes and businesses were still without electricity on Sunday, down from a peak of 2.67 million.
Ms Criswell said the federal government had started to arrange the “largest amount of search and rescue assets that I think we’ve ever put in place before”.
“We worry a lot about the direct impacts from the storm itself as it is making landfall, but we see so many more injuries and sometimes more fatalities after the storm,” she said.
“People need to stay vigilant right now. Standing water brings with it all kinds of hazards - it has debris, it could have power lines, it could have hazards in there that you just don’t know about.”
At least 54 people have been confirmed dead - 47 in Florida, four in North Carolina and three in Cuba.
More than 1,000 people have been rescued from flooded areas along Florida’s south-western coast alone, said Daniel Hokanson, a four-star general and head of the National Guard.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis said on Saturday that multibillionaire businessman Elon Musk was providing 120 Starlink satellites to “help bridge some of the communication issues”.
Starlink, a satellite-based internet system created by Mr Musk’s SpaceX, will provide high-speed connectivity.
