Ukraine war: Russian troops forced out of eastern town Lyman - BBC

Reuters

Russia has withdrawn its troops from the strategic Ukrainian town of Lyman, in a move seen as a significant setback for its campaign in the east.

The retreat came amid fears thousands of soldiers would be encircled in the town, Russia's defence ministry said.

Recapturing Lyman is of strategic significance for Ukraine.

The town had been used as a logistics hub by Russia, and could give Ukrainian troops access to more territory in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Video footage shared online showed Ukrainian soldiers waving their national flag on the outskirts of the town.

Although the blue and yellow colours were flying in Lyman again, fighting was "still going on" there, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening video address.

However, he gave no further details.

The battlefield setback prompted the Chechen leader and hardline Moscow ally, Ramzan Kadyrov, to comment that Russia should consider using low-yield nuclear weapons in the face of such defeats.

Lyman is in Donetsk - one of four partially-occupied Ukrainian regions which Russia declared it was annexing on Friday. Ukraine and its Western allies have dismissed the move as an illegal land-grab.

• What Russian annexation means for Ukraine's regions
• Putin raises stakes in speech full of anti-Western bile
• Zaporizhzhia locals flee Russia annexation

An adviser to Ukraine's defence minister earlier told the BBC that recent gains around Lyman - following days of intense fighting - represented a "considerable success".

Russian fighters had been given the chance to surrender, Yurik Sak said, and would face better treatment as prisoners of war than from the Russian military leadership.

Shortly afterwards, the Kremlin said it was withdrawing its forces from the town, using its Soviet-era name of Krasnyi (Red) Lyman, acknowledging that the Ukrainians had "significant superiority in forces" in the area.

Military analysts say that Kyiv currently has momentum in the war, and it has vowed to forge ahead with a counter-offensive to reclaim all territory under occupation.

In a speech on Friday, Mr Zelensky said efforts to "liberate our entire land" would act as proof that international law could not be violated.

In other developments:

• Details have emerged of another deadly attack on a convoy of civilians - the second announced in as many days - this time in the north-eastern Kharkiv region. The shelling on 25 September killed 24 people, including 13 children and a pregnant woman, regional head Oleg Sinegubov posted on the Telegram messaging app. Russia has not yet commented
• The UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, has confirmed with Moscow that Russian forces detained the chief of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant - a giant facility controlled by Russian troops. The Russians were trying to force Murashov to let the nuclear power plant be handed over to Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom, according to Ukrainian officials
• Russian firefighters are tackling a blaze at the Belbek military airbase in Crimea, where officials say a plane skidded off a runway and caught fire. In August explosions rocked Russia's Saky military base in Crimea and Ukraine later said that it had hit the base with an air strike.

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2022-10-01 16:02:42Z
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Burkina Faso unrest: Military officers remove leader Damiba - BBC

Radio Télévision du Burkina

An army captain in Burkina Faso has announced on national television that he has ousted military leader Lt Col Paul-Henri Damiba.

Ibrahim Traore cited Lt Col Damiba's inability to deal with an Islamist insurgency as the reason.

He also announced that borders were closed indefinitely and all political activities were suspended.

Lt Col Damiba's junta overthrew an elected government in January, citing a failure to halt Islamist attacks.

But his administration has also not been able to quell the jihadist violence. On Monday, 11 soldiers were killed when they were escorting a convoy of civilian vehicles in the north of the country.

Earlier on Friday, Lt Col Damiba urged the population to remain calm after heavy gunfire was heard in parts of the capital.

• Who is Lt-Col Damiba?

More than 20 armed soldiers - most with their faces covered - appeared on state TV shortly before 20:00 local time.

"Faced with the deteriorating situation, we tried several times to get Damiba to refocus the transition on the security question," said the statement signed by Traore.

"Damiba's actions gradually convinced us that his ambitions were diverting away from what we set out to do. We decided this day to remove Damiba," it said.

A curfew from 21:00 to 05:00 was also announced.

Lt Col Damiba's whereabouts are not known.

The United States said it was "deeply concerned" by events in Burkina Faso and encouraged its citizens to limit movements in the country.

"We call for a return to calm and restraint by all actors," a State Department spokesperson said.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) condemned the move, stating it "reaffirms its unreserved opposition to any taking or maintaining of the power by unconstitutional means".

Before dawn, shots and explosions were heard in the capital, Ouagadougou, some of them coming from near the presidential palace and main military barracks.

After sunrise, the normally bustling city was largely deserted, with soldiers on the streets blocking some roads and guarding key strategic points.

State television had stopped broadcasting and more gunfire was heard later in the day.

Lt Col Damiba said there was a "confused situation" created by "mood swings" among some soldiers as rumours of a coup intensified.

Urging people to remain calm and avoid social media speculation, the military leader said there were "negotiations under way to bring back calm and serenity".

Reuters

In January, Lt Col Damiba ousted President Roch Kaboré, saying that he had failed to deal with growing militant Islamist violence.

"We have more than what it takes to win this war," the junta chief said when he was sworn in as president in February.

But many citizens do not feel any safer and there have been protests in different parts of the country this week.

On Friday afternoon, some protesters took to the capital's streets calling for the removal of Lt Col Damiba.

The Islamist insurgency broke out in Burkina Faso in 2015, leaving thousands dead and forcing an estimated two million people from their homes.

The country has experienced eight successful coups since independence in 1960.

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2022-09-30 23:14:20Z
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Vladimir Putin annexes four Ukrainian regions - Financial Times

Vladimir Putin has annexed four regions in south-eastern Ukraine and vowed to use “all the means” at Russia’s disposal to defend the territory in a speech that marked a further escalation in his war against Kyiv and his resentment at its western allies.

In a ceremony marking the move on Friday, Russia’s president called on Ukraine to negotiate an end to the war — but reserved his strongest ire for Kyiv’s “real masters” in the west, which he accused of trying to “destroy” Russia.

The annexations are a dramatic attempt to raise the stakes in the conflict by bringing them under Russia’s nuclear umbrella.

The move “represents the most serious escalation since the start of the war,” said Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg.

In response, the US slapped sanctions on Elvira Nabiullina, the governor of Russia’s central bank, as part of a new package of measures. In a statement, G7 foreign ministers condemned the “illegal annexation of sovereign Ukrainian territory”.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced his country’s formal application for accelerated accession to Nato. EU energy ministers meanwhile met over a new round of punitive measures including a plan to cap Russian oil prices.

In a 37-minute speech in the Kremlin’s ornate St George’s hall, Putin said an attack on the four regions, which he said he now considered to be part of his country’s territory, would be treated as an attack on Russia and met with full force.

“We will defend our lands with all the means at our disposal and do everything to protect our people. This is our great liberating mission,” he said.

Putin said Russia was willing to hold peace talks with Ukraine but declared the four regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — off limits in any future negotiations following hastily organised “referendums”.

“People made their choice, an unambiguous choice,” Putin said, describing the votes, which were met with international condemnation, as “the will of millions of people”.

“The people living in Luhansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are becoming our citizens. Forever,” Putin said. “Kyiv’s current government should treat the free expression of these people’s will with respect and nothing else. Only this way can there be a path to peace.”

As he spoke, Ukrainian troops pushed further east in north-east Donetsk, coming close to surrounding the town of Lyman, a key staging ground for Russian forces.

Russia does not fully control any of the annexed four regions and has vowed to “liberate” at least two of them from Ukraine’s grasp as Kyiv presses on with its counter-offensive.

President Vladimir Putin, centre, at the Kremlin on Friday with the Russia-installed leaders in the four Ukrainian regions © Grigory Sysoyev/Sputnik/AP

Kremlin officials have said Russia could treat further Ukrainian attempts to retake the regions as an attack on its sovereignty and respond by using tactical nuclear weapons.

Although Putin did not make any reference to Russia’s own nuclear arsenal, which he had threatened to use when he announced the annexations last week, he accused the US of setting a “precedent” in bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the second world war.

But the bulk of the president’s speech was spent ranting against the west. It covered topics as varied as western sanctions, European imperial history, crude jokes about sex change operations and accusations that “Anglo-Saxons” had attacked two gas pipelines in the Baltic this week.

As he cited Russia’s imperial and Soviet past as justification for seizing the Ukrainian territories, Putin issued a stark rallying cry to end US hegemony through an “anti-colonial movement” led by Moscow.

“They are blatantly dividing the world into their vassals and everyone else,” Putin said, accusing the western elite of being “colonial” and “racist”.

“The west is looking for new ways to strike against our country, to weaken and destroy Russia,” he added. “They just can’t put up with there being such a big country with its territory, rich natural resources, and people who won’t live by anyone else’s rules.”

Putin claimed Russia had defeated a “sanctions blitzkrieg” and warned that other countries could face similar restrictions.

“They thought they could build the whole world again. But it turned out that not everyone is so excited about this rosy future. Only total masochists and fans of other non-traditional forms of international relations,” Putin said, making a homophobic quip.

“We have heard about the containment of Russia, China and Iran. We think Latin American and Middle Eastern countries will soon join this list,” he added. “Everyone is in their scope — including our neighbours” in the former USSR, several of whom have distanced themselves from Moscow over the war.

Putin offered hope that the EU would drop its support for Ukraine as it steels itself for a difficult winter without Russian energy supplies.

“Politicians in Europe will have to convince their citizens to wash less and heat their homes themselves. And when asked why they point their fingers at Russia,” he said.

“You can’t feed people with paper dollars and euros,” Putin said. “You can’t warm people with puffed-up valuations — you need energy sources.”

Additional reporting by Roman Olearchyk in Kyiv, Henry Foy in Brussels and Felicia Schwartz in Washington

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2022-09-30 16:12:19Z
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Nord Stream gas 'sabotage': Who's being blamed and why? - Reuters

WARSAW, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Major leaks that suddenly erupted in the Nord Stream gas pipelines that run from Russia to Europe under the Baltic Sea have generated plenty of theories but few clear answers about who or what caused the damage.

Here is what we know and what has been said so far:

WHO IS BEING BLAMED?

So far, most governments and officials have avoided pointing a finger directly, although some have made stronger hints than others.

European Union states say they believe the damage was caused by sabotage but have stopped short of naming anyone. Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, said it was "very obvious" who was behind it but did not say who that was.

The Kremlin said allegations of Russian responsibility were "stupid" and Russian officials have said Washington had a motive as it wants to sell more liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe.

President Vladimir Putin called the incident "unprecedented sabotage" and "an act of international terrorism", while the head of Russia's intelligence agency Sergei Naryshkin said the West was doing "everything it could" to cover up the perpetrators.

The White House has dismissed charges it was responsible.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said it was still too soon to point a finger and a full investigation was needed. "In terms of the attack - or the damage to the pipeline, at this point I think there's a lot of speculation," he said.

European leaders and Moscow say they can not rule out sabotage. Map of Nord Stream pipelines and locations of reported leaks

WHY SABOTAGE A PIPELINE?

German Navy Chief Jan Christian Kaack told German daily Die Welt in Monday's edition, the day leaks were found although he was apparently speaking before that: "Russia has also built up considerable capacity underwater. At the bottom of the Baltic Sea, but also in the Atlantic, there is quite a bit of critical infrastructure like pipelines or submarine cables for IT."

Alongside Nord Stream, a new pipeline has been built between gas producing Norway and Poland, which has been seeking to end its reliance on Russian energy, making the region highly sensitive for Europe's energy security.

"(Russia) can intimidate Europeans through an act of sabotage. Because if they're able to blow up these pipelines in the Baltic seabed, they could do that as well to the new pipeline," said Kristine Berzina, senior fellow for security and defence at the German Marshall Fund.

However, if it was an act of sabotage, it has damaged pipelines that were built by Kremlin-controlled Gazprom (GAZP.MM) and its European partners at a cost that ran into billions of dollars.

The damage also means Russia loses an element of leverage it still had over Europe, which has been racing to find other gas supplies for winter, even if the Nord Stream pipelines where not pumping gas when the leaks were discovered, analysts say.

Whoever or whatever is to blame, Ukraine may also be a beneficiary. Kyiv has long called for Europe to halt all purchases of Russian fuel - even though some gas still runs to Europe across its territory. Disrupting Nord Stream brings Kyiv's call for a full Russian fuel embargo closer to reality.

HOW COULD NORD STREAM HAVE BEEN DAMAGED?

Experts say the scale of the damage and the fact that the leaks are far from each other on two different pipelines indicate that the act was intentional and well-orchestrated.

Seismologists in Denmark and Sweden said they had registered two powerful blasts on Monday in the vicinity of the leaks and the explosions were in the water, not under the seabed.

A British defence source told Sky News the attack was probably premeditated and detonated from afar using underwater mines or other explosives.

"Something big caused those explosions which means ... Russia could do it. In theory, the United States could also do it but I don't really see the motivation there," Oliver Alexander, an open source intelligence analyst, told Reuters.

The United States had long called for Europe to end its reliance on Russian gas, he said, but Washington had little obvious motivation to act now because Nord Stream was no longer pumping gas to Europe at the time the leaks were found, although the pipelines had gas under pressure inside them.

"They already succeeded in stopping Nord Stream 2. It was already dead in the water, it wasn't going anywhere," he said.

Analysts say it is possible the damage was inflicted by devices that are available on the commercial market but that given the scale and precision, it was more likely carried out by an actor with access to more sophisticated technology.

Russia says it believes a state actor was involved.

"It is very difficult to imagine that such an act of a terrorism could have happened without the involvement of a state of some kind," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. "This is a very dangerous situation which requires an urgent investigation."

The U.S. news channel CNN, citing three sources, reported that European security officials had observed Russian navy support ships and submarines not far from the sites of the Nord Stream leaks. Asked about the report, Peskov said there had been a much larger NATO presence in the area.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

At Russia's request, the U.N. Security Council meets on Friday to discuss the damage to the pipelines, while the Europeans are pressing on with their investigations.

For now, however, more direct fingerpointing between Russia and the West could worsen tensions that have already spiralled over the war in Ukraine, said Marek Swierczynski, a defence analyst for Polish think tank Polityka Insight.

Reporting by Reuters bureaus, with additional reporting by Sabine Seibold; Editing by Alexander Smith and Edmund Blair

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2022-09-30 11:36:00Z
1576406631

Vladimir Putin annexes four Ukrainian regions - Financial Times

Vladimir Putin has annexed four regions in south-eastern Ukraine and vowed to use “all the means” at Russia’s disposal to defend the territory in a speech that marked a further escalation in his war against Kyiv and his resentment at its western allies.

In a ceremony marking the move on Friday, the Russian president called on Ukraine to negotiate an end to the war — but reserved his strongest ire for Kyiv’s “real masters” in the west, which he accused of trying to “destroy” Russia.

The annexations are a dramatic attempt to raise the stakes in the conflict by bringing them under Russia’s nuclear umbrella.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in response to Putin on Friday, announced that his country had formally applied for accelerated accession to the Nato military alliance.

“Today, here in Kyiv, in the heart of our country, we are taking a decisive step for the security of the entire community of free peoples,” Zelenskyy said in a video address outside his office. “We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine’s application for accelerated accession to Nato”.

In the 37-minute speech in the Kremlin’s ornate St George’s hall, Putin said an attack on the four regions, which he said he now considered to be part of his country’s territory, would be treated as an attack on Russia and met with full force.

“We will defend our lands with all the means at our disposal and do everything to protect our people. This is our great liberating mission,” he said.

Putin said Russia was willing to hold peace talks with Ukraine but declared the four regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — off limits in any future negotiations following hastily organised “referendums”.

“People made their choice, an unambiguous choice,” Putin said, describing the votes, which were met with international condemnation, as “the will of millions of people”.

“The people living in Luhansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are becoming our citizens. Forever,” Putin said. “Kyiv’s current government should treat the free expression of these people’s will with respect and nothing else. Only this way can there be a path to peace.”

As he spoke, Ukrainian troops pushed further east in north-east Donetsk, coming close to surrounding the town of Lyman, a key staging ground for Russian forces.

President Vladimir Putin, centre, at the Kremlin on Friday with the Russia-installed leaders in the four Ukrainian regions © Grigory Sysoyev/Sputnik/AP

Russia does not fully control any of the annexed four regions and has vowed to “liberate” at least two of them from Ukraine’s grasp as Kyiv presses on with its counter-offensive.

Kremlin officials have said Russia could treat further Ukrainian attempts to retake the regions as an attack on its sovereignty and respond by using tactical nuclear weapons.

Although Putin did not make any reference to Russia’s own nuclear arsenal, which he had threatened to use when he announced the annexations last week, he accused the US of setting a “precedent” in bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the second world war.

But the bulk of the president’s speech was spent ranting against the west. It covered topics as varied as western sanctions, European imperial history, crude jokes about sex change operations and accusations that “Anglo-Saxons” had attacked two gas pipelines in the Baltic this week.

As he cited Russia’s imperial and Soviet past as justification for seizing the Ukrainian territories, Putin issued a stark rallying cry to end US hegemony through an “anti-colonial movement” led by Moscow.

“They are blatantly dividing the world into their vassals and everyone else,” Putin said, accusing the western elite of being “colonial” and “racist”.

“The west is looking for new ways to strike against our country, to weaken and destroy Russia,” he added. “They just can’t put up with there being such a big country with its territory, rich natural resources, and people who won’t live by anyone else’s rules.”

Putin claimed Russia had defeated a “sanctions blitzkrieg” and warned that other countries could face similar restrictions.

“They thought they could build the whole world again. But it turned out that not everyone is so excited about this rosy future. Only total masochists and fans of other non-traditional forms of international relations,” Putin said, making a homophobic quip.

“We have heard about the containment of Russia, China and Iran. We think Latin American and Middle Eastern countries will soon join this list,” he added. “Everyone is in their scope — including our neighbours” in the former USSR, several of whom have distanced themselves from Moscow over the war.

Putin offered hope the EU would drop its support for Ukraine as it steels itself for a difficult winter without Russian energy supplies.

“Politicians in Europe will have to convince their citizens to wash less and heat their homes themselves. And when asked why they point their fingers at Russia,” he said.

“You can’t feed people with paper dollars and euros,” Putin said. “You can’t warm people with puffed-up valuations — you need energy sources.”

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2022-09-30 14:52:01Z
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At least 23 dead after suicide bomb blast at educational center in Kabul - CNN

Kabul, Afghanistan CNN  — 

A suicide bomb attack on an education center in Kabul has killed at least 23 people, most of whom are believed to be young women, in the latest sign of the deteriorating security situation in the Afghan capital.

The explosion took place on Friday at the Kaaj education center, in a predominantly Hazara neighborhood – an ethnic minority group that has long faced oppression.

Students were taking a practice university entrance exam at 7:30 a.m., local time (11 p.m. ET) when the blast first took place, Kabul Police Spokesman Khalid Zadran told CNN.

Abdu Ghayas Momand, a doctor from Ali Jinah Hospital, where some of the victims have been taken, said 23 people had been killed and 36 more injured.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.

Taiba Mehtarkhil, an eyewitness, told CNN many of the casualties were young women. She had gone to the center to look for her friend after she heard news of the attack and was confronted with scenes of chaos and despair, she said.

“I saw parents, other members of the families of the Kaaj students, screaming and running up and down,” she said. “Some were trying to get emergency medical attention to their loved ones and some others were looking for their sons and daughters. I saw around 20 killed and many more wounded with my own eyes.”

Mehtarkhil’s friend survived the attack as she was running late and hadn’t reached the classroom when the blast occurred, she said.

Another eyewitness, a 20-year-old who did not want to be named for security reasons, told CNN she was about 20 steps from the gate when the explosion threw her to the ground.

“When I got inside, I saw many of my classmates in blood. I found out that the explosion had happened inside my classroom,” she said, through tears.

“I was in a state of shock. I was just screaming my friends’ names and searching for them. I found some of them alive, but not my closest friend who was 19, and the most intelligent girl in our class,” she said.

Her classroom is the largest in the center and normally fits about 500 male and female students, she said.

“It is horrible, I am still in shock, it feels like a nightmare. It killed many of my dearest friends and classmates. I want the world not to treat this as another news piece. I want the world to know the pain we are going through right now. I am totally devastated,” she said.

A woman arrives on a motorbike to search for a relative at a hospital in Kabul after a blast at an education center in the Afghan capital on September 30.

AFP/Getty Images

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid condemned the attack in a tweet Friday.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan calls the attack on Kaj training center in the 13th district of Kabul a big crime, strongly condemns it, and expresses deepest sympathy to the families of the victims of this incident.”

“Serious measures will be taken to find and punish the perpetrators,” he added.

UNICEF said it was “appalled by the horrific attack” in a tweet Friday.

“This heinous act claimed the lives of dozens of adolescent girls and boys and severely injured many more,” it said. “Violence in or around education establishments is never acceptable. Such places must be havens of peace where children can learn, be with friends, and feel safe as they build skills for their futures.”

The United States said it “strongly condemned the attack” in a statement on Twitter.

“Targeting a room full of students taking exams is shameful; all students should be able to pursue an education in peace and without fear,” the Chargé d’Affaires of the US Mission to Afghanistan wrote.

Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, there have been multiple attacks against the Hazara community.

The Islamic State of Khorasan Province has claimed responsibility for 13 attacks against the Hazaras and been linked to three more that have killed and injured at least 700 people, according to Human Rights Watch.

“The Taliban authorities have done little to protect these communities from suicide bombings and other unlawful attacks or to provide necessary medical care and other assistance to victims and their families,” the report added.

A string of attacks in Kabul have claimed dozens of lives in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, two Russian embassy employees were among six people killed in a suicide blast near the Russian embassy, and in August, an explosion at a mosque during evening prayers killed 21 people and injured 33 more.

This is a breaking news story. More to come.

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2022-09-30 07:29:00Z
1587022851

Hurricane Ian: Death toll rises as storm strengthens - BBC

Getty Images

A huge search and rescue effort is continuing in Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, which cut a swathe of destruction across the US state.

At least 10 people have died in the state but officials fear the confirmed toll could rise considerably.

Joe Biden has warned the category one storm could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida's history, with a "substantial loss of life".

Ian is now moving inland and heading towards North and South Carolina.

A blackout is still affecting some 2.2 million Florida homes and businesses.

The flood waters have been so severe they have trapped some people in their homes, officials said, with the National Guard going door to door in the city of Orlando to rescue those stranded.

The 10 deaths that have have been confirmed were all in the south-west Charlotte County, which saw intense winds.

Joseph Tiseo, a local commissioner, told the BBC the area had a "tremendous wind event that lasted for 12 hours straight... it was brutal".

He said said it was not yet clear how many of the deaths were a direct result of the hurricane.

• Fort Myers devastation: 'Worst storm surge I've seen'
• In pictures: Floridians take in Hurricane Ian’s impact

A little further south, Lee County took the brunt of the storm surge.

The state's Governor Ron DeSantis told a news conference on Thursday evening that the damage in Fort Myers, a harbourside city there, was "almost indescribable".

"To see a house just sitting in the middle of Estero Bay, literally must have gotten picked up, flown because of the massive wind speed and the storm surge and deposited in a body of water," he said.

"I would say the most significant damage that I saw was on Ford Myers Beach, some of the homes were wiped out, some of its was just concrete slabs"

One woman who lost her home said the experience is "numbing" and has her feeling "overwhelmed".

"It's not my first hurricane but it's my first total loss," Karen, who lives on San Carlos Island in Fort Myers told Reuters.

Some residents had to swim out of their homes.

"You have to either swim or drown," an Orlando woman told CBS News, the BBC's partner in the US.

A woman in Fort Myers, who swam to safety when her ground floor apartment began to flood, said when she returned home she "had to wait about five minutes for all the floodwaters to come out".

And at the Sun Seekers mobile home park in North Fort Myers, residents recounted their terror as they tried to protect themselves with blankets.

"It was terrifying, because you're helpless", one of the residents, Kim said. "We had no [phone] service to call anyone, but no one would have come anyway."

Getty Images

At the governor's briefing, Kevin Guthrie, director at the Florida Division of Emergency Management warned about "indirect deaths" - the fatalities that can happen after a storm system has passed.

He warned homeowners to watch out for power lines mixed in trees and said no one should be tinkering with generators and chainsaws, or climbing ladders without proper training.

"People need to be extremely careful," Mr Guthrie said.

"If you do not know how to use a chainsaw. If you do not know how to climb a ladder. If you do not know the difference between a cable line and a power line, you should not be doing that."

Some parts of Naples, a seaside city south of Fort Myers, have been rendered a dark and deserted ghost town, and the city's iconic pier has been smashed in half.

The BBC's Bernd Debusmann, who is reporting from Naples, says a concession stand - which just days ago marked the halfway point on the pier - now stands precariously over the water, with splintered pieces of wood hanging off.

About a block from the beachfront, some roads remain impassable and underwater, while others have been left covered in mud as the water slowly recedes.

Hurricane Ian hit Cuba first, causing a total blackout in the country on Tuesday.

Meanwhile in Puerto Rico, the massive clean-up effort continues, after the hurricane hit the Caribbean island last week.

There was also a power blackout there, and ten days on, more than 269,000 households are still without electricity, according to poweroutage.us.

Puerto Rico was already reeling from Hurricane Fiona, a category one storm that hit just days earlier, on September 18.

As Hurricane Ian rolls on and attention moves to Florida, many on the island are worried about being forgotten.

"To the people of Puerto Rico, we have not gone away," President Biden said on Thursday, speaking at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) in Washington DC.

"I am committed to you and the recovery of the island, we will stand by you no matter how long it takes to get it done."

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2022-09-30 05:19:06Z
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