The Intercoastal News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

begin to assess just how many lives have been lost. the high waters, homes, buildings and roads ripped apart, ongoing search and rescue missions, and the damage is not just along the coast. welcome to "the lead," i'm jake tapper. we start with the first look at the death and devastation left behind by hurricane ian across southwest and central florida. this same system first made landfall in cuba then onto florida's west coast. now ian is about to strengthen and make its third landfall. let's show you what ian has done already. this is fort myers beach this morning. chunks of metal...

Repaired and weren't? >> no, i think those statements reflect probably infamiliarity with what it means to have a 40-year-old building on a coastal barrier island that's subject on a daily basis to corrosive effects. you've got the -- that building was butted on the one side by the atlantic ocean, on the other side by the intercoastal. i think, chris, you said it at the outset of your program, this building was also hit by ten different hurricanes and three tropical storms during its life span. >> but it's the only one that fell, and that's why it's maintenance records and the pictures from "t...

>> do you believe that there is a fair basis for saying that this complex, the champlain tower building, was not well-maintained, that these were things that should have been repaired and weren't? >> no, i think those statements reflect probably infamiliarity with what it means to have a 40-year-old building on a coastal barrier island that's subject on a daily basis to corrosive effects. you've got the -- that building was butted on the one side by the atlantic ocean, on the other side by the intercoastal. i think, chris, you said it at the outset of your program, this building was also hit b...