electricity. most in lee county. some customers might not have power for months. governor ron desantis says 2,000 people have been rescued. state officials are trying to determine how many people are still unaccounted for. the window for finding survivors is starting to close. cnn s carlos suarez has more. reporter: unrecognizable in parts. still underwater in others. hurricane ian s destruction and path so vast search and rescue efforts continue days after the storm tore through florida. we kent get over the bridge. reporter: residents in desoto county are stopped. air boats are key to getting supplies in and people out. these air boats are going out taking people into town and it s been going for a while now. reporter: the death toll across the state climbing rapidly. a lot of sick people running out of medications. a lot of people running out of water and until we can get everything up and going, we re trying to get them out. reporter: hundreds of sanibel isl
florida from hurricane ian. majority in lee county where officials face questions whether evacuation orders should have been issued earlier. this morning fort myers beach is closed entirely, even more residents, so crews can search for survivors. power could be out for a month. there s been nearly 2,000 rescues in southwestern florida since hurricane ian hit the state. a man in naples says he swam nearly a mile to save his wheelchair-bound mother. feels like i m swimming forever. we re arriving at grandma s. or i m arriving at grandma s. what s the time? 5:41. when he arrived he found his another neck deep in floodwaters. needless to say, thrilled to see him. it was a sigh of relief. as i was approaching the house, i couldn t get through the front door. water up to the windows, and i heard her screaming inside, and she was actually on the phone with my youngest son who was giving status updates to her, and it was, it was a scare and a sigh of relief at the same time.
reporter: the rescue and recovery operation after hurricane ian continuing on this small white sand island of fort myers beach located in lee county, an island that is now an island of rubble, 54 deaths now reported in this county alone. we re looking for anybody that may have been left behind. the devastation is hard to put into words. reporter: we joined a rescue operation that includes search and rescue dogs. we send the dog in, the dog will sniff around. if we can t make contact, we ll walk up and start hollering and see if we get a response from anybody. if we don t hear anything, we bring a second dog up. reporter: as we walked around on fort myers beach, there is just destruction everywhere. the water that came in here just decimated this area and a lot of people are asking us, when will power come back, how long will it take to recover? and it will be different for some folks. where i am standing right now, this used to be a home. now stairs that lead to now
turkey says the deal has been agreed by ukraine and russia which will allow the resumption of grain to be exported from the black sea. and coming up in sport this hour. despite a tough year, dina asher smith makes it back onto the podium after winning bronze at the world athletics championships in an incredible 200 metres final. hello, good morning. but not for many in dover. a critical incident has been declared at the port of dover, with holidaymakers and lorry drivers facing queues of several miles. we hear some have been queueing for “p we hear some have been queueing for up to five hours. bosses at dover say they are deeply frustrated at the resource at the french border overnight and early this morning has been woefully inadequate to meet our predicted demand. they say they will continue to work with all kent partners to look after those caught up in the current situation and play our part in resolving it as soon as possible. that statement from the port of dover. s
he shouldn t have been doing that. a critical incident is declared at the british port of dover as holiday makers face queues for hours for border checks, with the uk blaming french staff for the delays. the french border officers, they didn t turn up to work. they were supposed to be fully manning all of the passport control booths to meet at the holiday surge. hundreds of police in riot gear storm the main anti government protest camp in the sri lankan capital, colombo, tearing down tents and beating demonstrators. turkey says a deal has been agreed by ukraine and russia which will allow the resumption of grain to be exported from the black sea. tens of thousands of patients in england turned to private treatment late last year as hospital waiting lists started to climb with some even taking out loans pay for procedures. also coming up: despite a tough year, team gb s dina asher smith makes it back onto the podium after winning bronze at the world athletics championships in