Irma death toll rises as 5 die at South Florida nursing home
13 Sep 2017 4:46 PM GMT
ISLAMORADA: The death toll left behind by Hurricane Irma continued to rise on Wednesday, as five people died at a South Florida nursing home that apparently was without air conditioning, according to local officials.
Three people died at the facility in Hollywood, Fla., and two others were pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital, Barbara Sharief, the Broward County mayor,
said at a news briefing on Wednesday morning.
The facility was being evacuated, but it was unclear when the order to clear the site was put in effect.
Sharief said it was not immediately clear what caused the deaths at the nursing home, which is believed to have lost air conditioning after the storm.
Millions of people across Florida have lost power since Irma began lashing the state, and utilities have warned that some of the outages could extend for days or even weeks.
This has cut air conditioning to scores of Floridians, and it poses an acute danger for the particularly young or old in a state known for its sweltering temperatures.
The five people who died on Wednesday in South Florida were part of a mounting death toll that also included two people in Georgia
killed when trees fell on them and a man in Winter Park, Fla, near Orlando, apparently electrocuted by a downed power line in a roadway.
But as the power outages have lingered and residents have turned to generators, authorities have also warned of the danger these devices cause, noting that misusing them can easily sicken or kill people inside homes.
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