Rear Adm. Brendan McPherson, who also spoke, stated: “We are flying and we are operating in areas that are unrecognisable. There is no street signs. They do not look like how they used to look like. Buildings that were once benchmarks in the community are no longer there.”

At least 67 people have been killed by Hurricane Ian in Florida, United States, days after it occurred there and left homes, roadways and powerlines swallowed up and destroyed in its rushing waters and winds.

Shell-shocked residents affected are still assessing the damage left behind by the record-high storm surge, damaging winds, and catastrophic flooding that rendered some areas of the Sunshine State unrecognisable.

According to PowerOutage.us, as of early Sunday morning, nearly 900,000 customers in Florida still did not have power supply.

In North Carolina, where four people were also killed in storm-related incidents – according to officials – more than 300,000 have remained without power supply.

Though sunshine has returned to Florida, many residents there are still contending with the sobering aftermath of the hurricane: lost loved ones, destroyed homes, damaged landmarks, and a power grid that may take weeks to fix.

The devastation, which stretched from the coastal storms of Florida coastal to inland cities like Orlando, was felt most intensely in southwestern coastal communities like Fort Myers and Naples.

The hurricane – which is expected to be ranked the most expensive storm in the history of Florida – made landfall as a powerful Category 4 on Wednesday and by Saturday, had weakened to a post-tropical cyclone, dropping rain over parts of West Virginia and western Maryland.

According to Governor Ron Desantis, in a news release, more than 1,070 people from flooded areas in southwest and central Florida were rescued and evacuated by crews and 78 people were transported from a flooded elderly care facility as of Saturday morning.

Rear Adm. Brendan McPherson, who also spoke, stated: “We are flying and we are operating in areas that are unrecognisable. There is no street signs. They do not look like how they used to look like. Buildings that were once benchmarks in the community are no longer there.”

The White House has disclosed that President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are set to travel to Puerto Rico Monday to survey the damage from Hurricane Fiona before heading to Florida on Wednesday.