The death toll from Hurricane Ian has reportedly risen to nearly 100 in Florida as rescue personnel continue to search for survivors.
Officials in the US state have come under fire as critics allege residents in some hard-hit areas did not receive enough advance warning to evacuate.
More than half of the deaths recorded are in Lee County, where Ian made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane.
President Joe Biden is expected to visit Florida on Wednesday (today).
On Monday, Mr Biden visited Puerto Rico – which was struck by Hurricane Fiona just days before Ian struck Florida – where he promised $60m (£53m) in aid to help the US territory.
“We’re going to make sure you get every single dollar promised,” he said in the municipality of Ponce, parts of which were still without power.
According to the BBC’s US partner network CBS, the hurricane’s death toll in Florida climbed to at least 99 on Monday night. Another four deaths have been confirmed in North Carolina.
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Florida officials said the latest death toll is at least 68. The figures differ as while local officials may report additional storm-related deaths, the medical examiner’s officer is only attributing a death to the hurricane after an autopsy is performed.
The majority of the deaths – 54 – have been reported in Lee County, which includes the hard-hit areas Fort Myers, Sanibel and Pine Island, Sheriff Carmine Marceno said at a news conference.
Mr Marceno said access to the Fort Myers beach area was being restricted to allow authorities to investigate deaths and to preserve potential crime scenes. He added that several arrests had been made after looting incidents were reported.
On Friday, Florida governor Ron DeSantis described the county as “ground zero” for the hurricane.
In the wake of the storm, officials in Lee County have faced questions about the timing of their evacuation order, which was issued on 27 September, less than 24 hours before Ian made landfall. Several other counties in the path of the incoming hurricane issued their own evacuation orders a day before.
Local officials, as well as Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis, have defended Lee County’s preparations for the hurricane.
“Everyone wants to focus on a plan that might have been done differently,” Mr Marceno said on Sunday. “I stand 100% with my county commissioners, my county manager. We did what we had to do at the exact same time. I wouldn’t have changed anything.”
