ICYMI: A pier on Pawley Island, on the northern South Carolina coast, has collapsed and is floating into the ocean, the local police department said.

The area is getting a near-direct hit from the storm as it makes landfall on Friday afternoon, and the police have shared photos of flooding across the island, calling it “catastrophic.”

ICYMI: President Joe Biden said that the federal government had helped pre-deploy the largest response team in recent history to Florida, as the state works to assess the damage and recover from Hurricane Ian.

Rescue teams need to be “in the water now,” the president said.

He said that he talked to a Coast Guard lieutenant commander who talked about saving a 94-year-old woman via a helicopter and a one-month-old baby.

Parts of southwest Florida have been completely devastated by Hurricane Ian, with many areas around Fort Myers and Port Charlotte facing severe damage. Officials are still assessing the death toll, but hundreds of people have been rescued as first responders search for survivors.

ICYMI: A woman has shared distressing footage of herself floating in an inflatable pool inside her home during Hurricane Ian as waves lap up against the windows.

“If you’ve ever floated in a floaty pool in your own living room with your refrigerator, at your door,” she said in a video on TikTok.

Floodwaters are an extremely dangerous place to be during a storm. Not only is there the threat of floods rising further and potentially drowning people in their own homes, but the water can pick up sharp objects and hazardous chemicals as it washes through a city.

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“We’re flying and we’re operating in areas that are unrecognizable. There’s no street signs. They don’t look like they used to look like. Buildings that were once benchmarks in the community are no longer there,” Rear Admiral Brendan McPherson told CNN on Friday.

ICYMI: Sanibel Island got some of the worst impacts from Hurricane Ian, as the storm made landfall just north of the southwestern Florida community.

The island faced intense floods as storm surges and pounding rain hit on Wednesday late into the night, leaving many residents stranded – especially as the only road onto the island, the Sanibel Causeway, was destroyed in the hurricane.

Video footage shows a woman and her cat being rescued from the community as first responders lifted her out of floodwaters.

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The number of people killed by hurricane Ian has risen to 17, according to the Associated Press.

Authorities in storm-lashed Florida confirmed several drowning deaths and other fatalities on Friday, according to the news organisation.

Most of the deaths were drownings, including a 68-year-old woman who was swept into the ocean by a wave.

The toll also includes a 22-year-old woman who was involved in an ATV rollover caused by a washed-out road n Manatee County on Friday.

A 71-year-old man died from head injuries after falling from a roof as he put up storm shutters on Wednesday.

The death toll is expected to continue to rise as first responders manage to get into flood-hit areas.

Survivors of the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Ian in Florida have shared the damage caused by the storm this week in clips on social media.

The county in southwest Florida is the home of Cape Coral and Fort Myers, as well as Sanibel Island.

“Our hearts go out to friends & family who lost their loved one in this tragic storm. We are here for you & we will get through this together,” tweeted Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno.

Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows major flooding along Myrtle Beach in South Carolina as Hurricane Ian makes impact.

As of Friday afternoon, it was the third-highest water level on record.