Right now on the lead in strikes, decimating parts of Florida's Gulf Coast and still on a deadly

path as authorities 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-up, Jake Tapper, and we start today with our national lead and

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 was Fort Myers Beach this morning.

Chunks of metal and trees thrown across the streets, buildings ripped apart, cars destroyed,

a Fort Myers resident who's lived there, his entire life told CNN, this is the worst

hurricane he's ever lived through also, barrier islands have been cut off.

Near Fort Myers, all of the bridges to Pine Island have failed, and massive sections

of the Sanibel Causeway were washed away by the storm surge, severing the only connection

Sanibel and captive islands have to the Florida mainland.

Search and rescue crews have been deployed, including the U.S. Coast Guard to check

on people who chose to stay behind and ride out the storm almost every person in this

county, Lee County, is currently without power, just a small fraction of the 2.6 million

customers in the dark across the state of Florida right now.

Lee County Sheriff says he cannot give a definite assessment of the number of deaths, but

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