CBS News
Rescuers continue search for Hurricane Ian survivors in Florida
Rescuers searched for survivors among the ruins of Florida’s flooded homes from Hurricane Ian while authorities in South Carolina began assessing damage from its strike there as the remnants of one of the strongest and costliest hurricanes to ever hit the U.S. continued to push north.
The powerful storm terrorized millions of people for most of the week, battering western Cuba before raking across Florida from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, where it mustered enough strength for a final assault on South Carolina.
As of late Saturday afternoon, the official statewide death toll in Florida stood at 24. However, after contacting local sheriffs’ offices, CBS News found that the number of deaths attributed directly or indirectly to the hurricane was at least 72. Of those 72, 35 were in Lee County, and 23 in Charlotte County.
The office of North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper also reported Saturday at least four Ian-related deaths. They included a 25-year-old man, a 24-year-old woman, a 22-year-old man and a 65-year-old man. Three of the deaths involved vehicular accidents, the governor’s office said, while the 65-year-old man died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator that was running in a closed garage during a power outage. The man’s wife was also hospitalized.
As of Saturday afternoon, nearly 1.2 million homes and businesses remained without power in Florida, and hundreds of thousands of outages were reported across the Carolinas and Virginia.
At a Saturday morning press conference, FEMA and U.S. Coast Guard officials said about 4,000 people have been rescued in Florida by local, state and federal authorities, with a vast majority of those coming from the barrier islands. Some 10,000 people are still in shelters, according to the Red Cross, and authorities have not yet determined what kind of temporary housing will be set up for those who lost their homes.
At least 145 hospitals and medical facilities in Florida were impacted by Hurricane Ian. Of those, 10 emergency departments were fully evacuated. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to conduct damage assessments.
“There are impacts to the hospital system,” FEMA assistant administrator Anne Bink said, adding that FEMA is engaged in “bulk water delivery” to affected medical facilities, particularly in Lee County.
Meanwhile, crews on Saturday were going door to door in Pine Island, Florida, “to get everyone out,” the Matlacha/Pine Island Fire Control District said on social media. The storm heavily damaged the only bridge to the island, and left it without any power or water service. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office reported Saturday evening that the U.S. Coast Guard was planning a “waterborne” Pine Island evacuation effort Sunday.
In nearby Sanibel Island, the Coast Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will soon send barges as a short-term solution for getting equipment and materials to the decimated island.
“That area is going to be out of out of commission for a long time,” said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Brandon McPherson. “It does not have water. It does not have basic infrastructure. I think some people might have though they could stay there for some time, but after camping out for a night or two, they’re realizing that’s not a viable option.”
In South Carolina, Ian’s center came ashore near Georgetown, a small community along the Winyah Bay about 60 miles north of historic Charleston. The storm washed away parts of four piers along the coast, including two connected to the popular tourist town of Myrtle Beach.
During a Saturday afternoon press conference, Gov. Henry McMaster said the state has cleaning and rebuilding to do, particularly in the northwest corner of the state, where residents saw a lot of water. However, he said overall it was a “good story” for South Carolina — there were no reported storm deaths, no hospitals were damaged, water systems were working, and most residents who lost power already had it back on Saturday morning.
“We are open for business,” the governor said.
In some places, though, new problems continued to arise. A 14-mile stretch of Interstate 75 in Florida was closed late Friday in both directions in the Port Charlotte area because of the massive mount of water swelling the Myakka River.
In the Sarasota suburb of North Point, Florida, residents of the Country Club Ridge subdivision waded through waterlogged streets Friday. John Chihil solemnly towed a canoe and another small boat through the ankle-deep water.
“There’s really not much to feel. It’s an act of God, you know?” he said. “I mean, that’s all you can do is pray and hope for a better day tomorrow.”
Now weakened to a post-tropical cyclone, Ian was expected to move across central North Carolina on Saturday morning then move into Virginia and New York.
CBS News
Social media star Peanut the squirrel tests negative for rabies after being euthanized, official says
NEW YORK — Peanut, the social media star squirrel at the center of a national furor after it was seized from its owner in upstate New York and euthanized, has tested negative for rabies, a county official said Tuesday.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation took the squirrel and a raccoon named Fred on Oct. 30 from Mark Longo’s home and animal sanctuary in rural Pine City, near the Pennsylvania border. The agency said it had received complaints that wildlife was being kept illegally and potentially unsafely, but officials have faced a barrage of criticism for the seizure. Government workers said they have since faced violent threats.
The DEC and the Chemung County officials have said the squirrel and raccoon were euthanized so they could be tested for rabies after Peanut bit a DEC worker involved in the investigation.
Chemung County Executive Chris Moss said tests on the two animals came back negative during a news conference detailing the county’s role in the incident. He said the county worked with the state and followed protocols.
In New York state, only licensed wildlife rehabilitators can legally rescue squirrels, and to legally keep a domesticated wild animal, it also has to be registered to be an educational animal.
“We were ready to comply, we were ready to get the paperwork, we were in the process of doing that. We needed a little bit of guidance from the DEC,” Longo told CBS News New York earlier this month.
“I knew the test results were going to be negative”
Peanut gained tens of thousands of followers on Instagram, TikTok and other platforms in the more than seven years since Longo took him in after seeing his mother get hit by a car in New York City. Longo has said he was in the process of filing paperwork to get Peanut certified as an educational animal when he was seized.
Longo on Tuesday said the negative test results were no surprise and criticized the government’s actions.
“It’s no real big shocker to me, considering I lived with Peanut for seven-and-a-half years and Fred for five months. I’m not foaming at the mouth,” he said. “I knew the test results were going to be negative.”
The DEC said in a prepared statement there was an internal investigation and that they were reviewing internal policies and procedures.
CBS News
John Krasinski named People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2024
Let the office debates begin – John Krasinski is People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2024.
The magazine announced the actor-writer-director as its pick Tuesday night during “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
Krasinski starred in “The Office” before launching the “Quiet Place” franchise and leading the action series “Jack Ryan.” He joked in an interview with the magazine that he’s hoping his wife, fellow actor Emily Blunt, makes good on a promise to plaster the cover as wallpaper at their home.
He takes the mantle from last year’s honoree, Patrick Dempsey.
Colbert joked before the announcement was made that he was sure he’d be the choice. Then, he said he “just really thought this was gonna be my year. Now. Who are we kidding? I’m never gonna be the sexiest man alive.”
And during a pre-recorded sketch, Colbert and Krasinski introduced Krasinski’s “6-step program” to become sexy.
Krasinski, 45, told People his immediate reaction to the honor was “just immediate blackout, actually. Zero thoughts.” He added that he thought he might be getting pranked.
He burst to fame playing the floppy-haired, lanky Jim on the U.S. version of the mockumentary “The Office” and transitioned into the clean-cut, muscular action star on Amazon’s “Jack Ryan,” playing the Tom Clancy character previously portrayed by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck on the big screen. He also co-wrote, directed and starred in “A Quiet Place,” which has grown into a three-film franchise, and created the short-lived but immensely popular pandemic-era web series “Some Good News.”
Earlier this year, he debuted his sixth directorial effort, “IF,” a film about imaginary friends that also featured Blunt.
They have two daughters together.
Krasinski told People the honor is likely to result in more than just jokes at home.
“I think it’s going to make me do more household chores,” he quipped.
Now in its 40th year, the first Sexiest Man Alive was Mel Gibson. Other past recipients include Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John F. Kennedy Jr., David Beckham, Michael B. Jordan, John Legend, Dwayne Johnson, Paul Rudd and Pierce Brosnan.
CBS News
Canadian teen in critical condition with suspected case of bird flu
A Canadian teen is hospitalized in critical condition with what is believed to be bird flu, a British Columbia health official said Tuesday.
It’s not clear how the teenager picked up the virus, which has been detected recently in wild birds and poultry in the province, said Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer. The teen is not known to have any contact with infected animals, she said.
Officials have released few details about the patient. Henry said the teen was healthy before developing symptoms more than a week ago — initially eye redness, cough and fever — and has been hospitalized with a respiratory illness since Friday in Vancouver.
Initial testing indicated the infection is from bird flu. Officials believe it is the Type A H5N1 bird flu, but are awaiting confirmation. H5N1 has been spreading widely in the U.S. among wild birds, poultry, cows and a number of other animals.
In Canada, testing has been done on about three dozen people who were in contact with the teen. None of them have evidence of infection, Henry said.
Officials are trying to figure out how the teen was infected, although Henry said that may never be determined. In British Columbia, the virus has been detected in poultry, wild birds and some small animals, mostly when birds are migrating through the area.
The Canadian case was in the Fraser Valley area in southern British Columbia.
So far this year, at least 46 people in the U.S. — mostly farmworkers — have tested positive with mostly mild symptoms.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 of those patients were in California, 11 in Washington, 10 in Colorado, two in Michigan and one each in Missouri and Texas.
The source of the disease was traced to either cattle or poultry in all but one of the U.S. cases. The source in the lone Missouri case was unknown, the CDC said.
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