Hurricane Ian relief efforts continue in Southwest Florida as residents begin returning home

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Families displaced by Hurricane Ian are beginning to return to their homes in Southwest Florida as the governor works to restore power and water in areas still without it.

It's been 10 days since Hurricane Ian slammed into southwest Florida as a category 4 storm. The death toll is now over 100. As of Saturday, about 180,000 customers are still without power. Governor Ron DeSantis says the state is working to try and bring that number down. 

"The issue is really going to be getting the debris removed, making sure you can clear the area and then seeing the homes that can even accept power or not. Because if the home was damaged enough, they may not be able to accept power," DeSantis said.

RELATED: Hidden debris from Hurricane Ian lingers in waterways, causing boating dangers, police say

So far, the state has cleared debris from more than 2800 miles of roadways. It also brought in 375 Starlink satellite devices to provide internet. Currently, Sanibel Island is still only accessible by boat, so to help restore the power the state is transporting power crews to the island on a barge. Governor DeSantis expects the Sanibel Causeway will be rebuilt by the end of October.

Sanibel Island is only accessible by boat. 

"We want people to get back to their homes on Sanibel. Right now, that's general by boat so we would ask those boat ramps to be open. We want people to be able to make that happen," DeSantis explained.

Watch Hurricane Ian develop and trek across the Caribbean and Florida

Along with power restoration, clean water is also still a major need. Beginning Saturday, DeSantis said the state will be bringing in portable restrooms, hand wash stations and shower trailers to neighborhoods still without water. To help with the fuel supply, the state has opened 12 fuel depots in Southwest Florida including three in hard-hit Lee County.

The state has cleared debris from more than 2800 miles of roadways. 

When it comes to relief efforts so far the state has provided more than 13 million meals, 47 million bottles of water and 2.2 million gallons of fuel.

RELATED: FOX donates $1M to American Red Cross for Hurricane Ian relief efforts; how you can help too

As of Saturday FloridaDisasterFund.org has raised more than $40 million.

"We're here as a state for the long haul because we understand this is something that is going to require a lot of effort over a lengthy period of time," DeSantis said.