Charlotte County, Florida sheriff fears many 'complacent' residents did not evacuate before Hurricane Ian
Area near Fort Myers, Florida takes direct hit from Hurricane Ian
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Charlotte County, Florida Sheriff Bill Prummell said Thursday he believes many residents there were "complacent" and decided not to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Ian.
Prummell joined "Fox & Friends" to discuss the damage and recovery efforts that are beginning in his county, south of the Tampa area where the center of the storm came ashore Wednesday afternoon.
"Right now, Charlotte County is just going to need a lot of support and a lot of prayers," said Prummell, declining to speculate on the number of fatalities.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We've requested a lot of assets to come in from the state. We actually already have a federal search and rescue team. And so we are combining our search and rescue teams with theirs, and we're starting to hit the road."
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This satellite image provided by NASA on Sept. 26, 2022, shows Hurricane Ian pictured from the International Space Station just south of Cuba gaining strength and heading toward Florida. (NASA via AP)
Prummell said Hurricane Ian was worse than Hurricane Charley in 2004 and many didn't expect the storm to be as severe as it ended up being.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I believe a lot of people did stay behind. Here in Florida, we watch these hurricanes come and go every year and they always go by us and miss us and people become complacent, saying it's not going to happen here, it's not going to hit us. And this one did. … We haven't had a hurricane since 2004 when Charley came through and Charley was devastating. This one was even worse," he told Brian Kilmeade.
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Prummell said the flooding and downed power lines have made it difficult to get through the county to provide help.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We got people that are stranded in their vehicles in the water. We got people who are trapped in their homes. Our air unit is up right now getting our eyes in the sky to try and get an overall assessment of the county. And they are reporting back to people on their roofs. So we're working with our search and rescue teams and trying to get into those areas."
Prummell said he is not interested in any "pissing matches" between the state and federal government and his county just needs resources, especially high-water vehicles.