Desperate search for survivors continues as Hurricane Ian death toll hits at least 85 with 600,000 STILL without power: Insurers face $60B payout from destroyed homes

The desperate search for Hurricane Ian survivors has continued this morning as the devastating death toll reached at least 85 - after the torrent caused an estimated $60 billion in damage. 

Insurers assessing the damage to properties ransacked by the flooding and winds are bracing for a multi-billion dollar hit after Florida's streets were turned into rivers and houses were engulfed by the raging Category 4 storm. 

Decimated coastal towns and submerged homes are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the catastrophic loss caused by the violent weather front last week. 

The current number of fatalities is only expected to grow as rescue teams dive in and assess the shattered towns submerged by Ian's fury - while 600,000 people are still in darkness after the hurricane obliterated power lines. 

Depleted survivors on 'ground zero' Fort Myers, which was obliterated by the 10-foot storm surge, were forced to escape the aftermath on foot, while clear up teams rummaged street by street though the shocking debris.  

The eye-watering projection includes estimated wind, storm surge, and inland flood losses resulting from Ian's landfalls in both Florida and South Carolina, risk modeling firm Verisk said.