Ian is the second-deadliest storm to hit the mainland US in the 21st century behind Hurricane Katrina, which left more than 1,800 people dead in 2005.
Hurricane Ian passed through Florida a week ago, but the number of victims continues to grow, 115 dead.
Boats are seen stacked in the Fort Myers Beach area
Hurricane Ian is already considered one of the deadliest in history after passing through the state of Florida. Until now, the authorities have confirmed the death of at least 115 people, a figure that unfortunately is expected to continue to rise.
According to the first data provided by the commission of medical examiners of the state, the more than one hundred confirmed deaths occurred both during the passage of the hurricane, and before -while residents were preparing- and after -trying to repair the damage-.
For nowthe youngest person to die during Ian is a 19-year-old Cuban woman, who came with a group of seven other migrants on a precarious boat to Florida. Their boat capsized in bad weather a few miles off the coast of Key West and they all perished.
The oldest person confirmed to have died is a 96-year-old man in Charlotte County who drowned after becoming trapped under a parked vehicle trying to shelter from floodwaters.. In general, most of the deceased were over 60 years of age, being the median age of confirmed death so far is 73 years.
The roads of Fort Myers are littered with boats, yachts and jet skis, after the passage of Hurricane Ian that hit the coastal city on Wednesday as a category 4 storm, leaving it decimated and unrecognizable Already last week, with far fewer cases of confirmed deaths, the Governor Ron DeSantis warned that many of the deaths in these cases usually occur after storms.
“We have seen in recent storms that have affected the country that there are usually more fatalities after the hurricane than during its passage, for a wide variety of reasons”, explained DeSantis.
Residents of Florida’s devastated barrier islands are starting to return, assessing the damage to homes and businesses despite limited access to some areas. According to the Insurance Information Institute, only about 4% of homeowners nationwide have flood insurance although 90% of catastrophes in the US involve flooding. In Florida that number is only about 18%.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, at a news conference says that 85,000 customers remain without electricity, down from highs above 2.6 million across the state. Also, he said rescue workers have conducted around 2,500 missions, particularly on barrier islands on the Gulf coast as well as in inland areas that have seen intense flooding. More than 90,000 structures have been inspected and checked for survivors.
And so it seems to be happening with Ian. At least two confirmed cases of suicide after the passage of the hurricane draw attention, apparently due to the despair of having lost everything. Both occurred in Lee County – the most affected – and involved two men, one in his 70s and the other in his 73s.
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