Hurricane Ian regains strength and hits the coasts of South Carolina, at least 42 dead in Florida

As it touches the shores of South Carolina and leaves death and destruction behind (the provisional toll is of

), it's time for bitter tolls for

.

US President Joe Biden has already made it clear that "it will take months, years to rebuild what the hurricane destroyed", expressing his closeness to the affected families.

Biden has assured "all the support" of the administration for him, "as long as it is necessary." The most up-to-date figures speak of

and

(less than the 65 billion for Hurricane

, which killed 1,836 in 2005, but much more than 15 billion for winter storm Uri and 36 billion for Hurricane Ida, both in 2021).

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Florida, the damage caused by the passage of Hurricane Ian

The Florida drama

The most dramatic situation remains in Florida: most of the victims were recorded in Charlotte County;

some communities, hit on Wednesday, are difficult to reach, with roads blocked or flooded, and this suggests that the death toll could increase.

Thousands displaced.

In the port of the tourist city of

, dozens of moored boats were overwhelmed and sunk, while connections with Pine Island and Sanibel Island, two islands in front of the city connected to the mainland by bridges, were completely cut off.

The transport situation is slightly improving: after canceling all flights on Thursday, the international airports of Orlando and Jacksonville have resumed operations and also the many Disney resorts that had closed in anticipation of the arrival of the hurricane are slowly reopening.

For Governor Ron De Santis, the catastrophe of these days "is an event that happens once every 500 years, which has brought indescribable destruction" and according to experts could be the worst natural disaster in the history of the state.

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Florida, the damage caused by the passage of Hurricane Ian

Now he is in South Carolina, on alert in Virginia as far as Washington

But what is feared now is that the storm's path is not over and Ian

, North Carolina and other east coast states, up to the capital Washington.

After weakening on land, Ian

on the night of Thursday to Friday and returned a Category 1 hurricane. 

The National Hurricane Center fears for

, where torrential rains with rivers of up to two meters are expected.

President Biden approved the declaration of a state of emergency here too and assured all the support of the federal government and of the Fema, the US civil protection, as is happening in Florida.

Also alert in Virginia, where tornadoes and floods are expected in the next 24 hours, as well as heavy rains and thunderstorms are announced over the American capital.

According to forecasts, it is true that Ian will weaken rapidly in the southeastern United States, between Saturday and Sunday.