Residents Praise FL Sheriff as Officials Investigate Hurricane Ian Deaths

Florida cities in Lee County along the Sunshine State's west coast received the brunt of the damage from Hurricane Ian, and now the county's sheriff's office is receiving public scrutiny as well as praise as it responds to pleas for help and clean-up efforts.

Ian ravaged Lee County last week when the storm made landfall as a slow-moving Category 4 hurricane. Sea levels surged to nearly 12 feet in parts of the county, destroying buildings and killing many. Search-and-rescue operations are still ongoing in areas like Fort Myers Beach as officials start to clean up the damage left behind.

Hurricane Ian, currently, has claimed 76 lives in Florida and four more in South Carolina, where the hurricane resurged after exiting Florida and curled through the Atlantic. The death count is rising as officials continue search-and-rescue operations throughout the state.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office is documenting the devastation, and social media posts are receiving many appreciative messages from the public in response.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno received critical feedback for various decisions along the way—such as when he announced last Thursday that there were hundreds of fatalities in Lee County when only one death had been confirmed. However, others are leaping to defend the sheriff on the department's social media pages.

Early Monday morning, the Lee County Sheriff's Office posted a Facebook status alerting its followers to a press conference occurring in Fort Myers Beach later that day. Dozens commented on the post, including one message that read: "You are doing a great job Sheriff."

Other posts by the sheriff's office received similar encouraging messages. Also on Monday, the department posted a photo of a deputy surveying damage within the Fort Myers Beach area with the status: "We still think #fortmyersbeach is paradise. We will rebuild this community."

Residents supported the department with comments.

"Thank you Lee county sheriff for all you are doing and all the first responders as well," one comment said.

"Keep up the good work!" one Facebook user commented in response to the sheriff's office photo of deputies installing blue tarp on damaged roofs of houses.

"May God surround you with his protection," another user said.

Posts to Twitter received similar responses. While some questioned Marceno's evacuation timing and inaccurate death toll count in the first days of Hurricane Ian, dozens of others praised the sheriff's department for its search-and-rescue efforts.

Marceno tweeted a video of deputies conducting search-and-rescue operations on Sunday night, to which several Twitter users extended their appreciation for the efforts.

"Thank you for keeping our community safe through this catastrophic disaster!" one comment said.

Others urged the sheriff's office to let residents back into their homes after public safety officials announced Fort Myers Beach was impassable.

Newsweek reached out to Lee County Sheriff's Office for comment, but received a busy signal.