The death toll in the United States from Hurricane Ian has risen to 27, after Florida state authorities confirmed several drowning deaths.
The Florida Police Department said many of the deaths were drownings, including a 68-year-old woman who was swept out to sea by a wave. A 67-year-old man waiting to be rescued died after falling into water that was engulfing his home, authorities said.
The deaths included a 22-year-old woman who was thrown from a tractor that overturned on a flooded road in Manatee County on Friday. A 71-year-old man also died of head injuries after he fell from a roof while putting up blinds on Wednesday.
An 80-year-old woman and a 94-year-old man who relied on ventilators also died after equipment stopped working due to electrical failures, affecting nearly 2.7 million people. Three other people died in Cuba when the storm moved north earlier this week.
Authorities fear the death toll will rise when they get a chance to search the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Ian.
The eye of the hurricane made landfall off the coast of South Carolina on Friday, packing winds of up to 90 miles per hour, after leaving a trail of destruction in the US state of Florida earlier in the week. According to the US National Hurricane Center, the hurricane arrived near the city of Georgetown on Friday afternoon. Shortly before the storm arrived, US President Joe Biden urged residents to heed the warnings from local authorities, after approving the declaration of a state of emergency.
Ian hit Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a powerful Category 4 hurricane (the second highest) with winds of 150 miles per hour, inundating homes. Before hitting the coast, the rains downed trees and power lines, leaving many areas on the Charleston Peninsula underwater. The hurricane left a large trail of destruction after hitting Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Source: Observadora
