SWFL

Recently Hurricane Ian tore through Southwest Florida, flooding homes, upending lives and destroying much of what people hold dear. A family in Port Charlotte evacuated south to escape the storm; but another disaster was waiting for them. Their beloved dog, confused by the storm’s chaos, ran off when its owner took it outside for a bathroom break as the storm was dying down. And soon, the family would rely on the kindness of strangers to help a poor dog find her way home.

Most residents of Pine Island were left without water or power after being battered by Hurricane Ian. Part of the bridge connecting them to the mainland was also destroyed. In the aftermath of the storm, WLRN's Gerard Albert III spent a day with the volunteer captains running vital supply to residents trying to get their lives back together.

Registered Lee County voters can request and pick up their ballot Monday through Friday

Inland-oriented Points of Distribution in Lee County will close as of 5 p.m. Wednesday. Such PODs are typically established for five to seven days immediately following a disaster.

The updated map lists the number of homes and commercial properties affected by Hurricane Ian.

Six of the Points of Distribution remain open in Bonita Springs, Cape Coral, Estero, North Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres and Fort Myers, with a Cape Coral site closed on Saturday.

Most researchers agree it’s not valid to point to a single storm and say it was 'caused' by the warming world — too many variables. But there’s a growing consensus that the sea level rise and higher temperatures in the last hundred years have already impacted storms like Ian and may continue to do so in the future.

The Joint Legislative Budget Commission will hold an emergency meeting next week to release an additional $360 million into the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund, which was established this year with $500 million. Most of the initial funding has already been allocated for Ian recovery efforts.

Deaths attributed to Hurricane Ian, based on Florida officials and information from other state and local sources, has risen to at least 123. The Florida Medical Examiners Commission officially confirmed the cause of death of 92 people statewide after the hurricane based on their updated death tally after Hurricane Ian.

More than 12.1 million MREs and 43.5 million bottles of water have been distributed so far.