Categories: Blog

MIAMI: The death toll from Hurricane Ian climbed past 80 on Sunday

Hurricane Ian death toll climbs to 83, officials defend response

MIAMI: The death toll from Hurricane Ian climbed past 80 on Sunday as embattled residents in Florida and the Carolinas faced a recovery expected to cost tens of billions of dollars, and some officials faced criticism over their response to the storm.

The death toll was expected to keep rising as floodwaters receded and search teams pushed farther into areas initially cut off from the outside world. Hundreds of people have been rescued as emergency workers sifted through homes and buildings inundated with water or completely washed away.

At least 85 storm-related deaths have been confirmed since Ian crashed ashore Florida’s Gulf Coast with catastrophic force on Wednesday as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150 miles per hour (240 km per hour).

Florida accounted for all but four of the fatalities, with 42 tallied by the sheriff’s office in coastal Lee County, which bore the brunt of the storm when it made landfall, and 39 other deaths reported by officials in four neighboring counties.

Officials in Lee County, which includes Fort Myers and Cape Coral and is on the Gulf Coast, have faced questions over whether they mandated evacuations in time.

Cecil Pendergrass, chairman of the county’s board of commissioners, said on Sunday that once the county was forecast to be in the cone, or the probable track of the hurricane’s center, evacuation orders were given. Even then, some people chose to ride the storm out, Pendergrass said.

Read more: Hurricane Orlene headed for Mexico

“I respect their choices,” he said at a press conference. “But I’m sure a lot of them regret it now.”

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will see the devastation in Florida firsthand on Wednesday, the White House said in a statement on Saturday. The Bidens will visit Puerto Rico on Monday, where hundreds of thousands of people were still without power two weeks after Hurricane Fiona hit the island.

Cuba is restoring power after Ian knocked out electricity to the whole country of 11 million people, flattened homes and obliterated agricultural fields.

North Carolina authorities said at least four people had been killed there. No deaths were immediately reported in South Carolina, where Ian made another U.S. landfall on Friday.

Chugging over land since then, Ian has diminished into an ever-weakening post-tropical cyclone.

The National Hurricane Center forecast more heavy rainfall was possible across parts of West Virginia and western Maryland into Sunday morning, and “major to record flooding” in central Florida.

Marknepal

Recent Posts

Unveiling the Unforeseen: The Viral Journey of ‘Nothing Except Everything’ on YouTube

In September 2023, Wesley Wang uploaded a YouTube video titled "nothing except everything," which unexpectedly…

5 months ago

Alexia Tabone  Biography,Brand Ambassador, Age, Height, Weight,Lifestyle

Alexia Tabone is a highly respected neuroscientist known for her groundbreaking research in the field…

5 months ago

Bisket jatra highlight

भक्तपुरमा नौ दिन आठ रातसम्म परम्परागत विधिअनुसार मनाइने विश्वप्रसिद्ध बिस्का: जात्रा आज चैत २७ गते…

7 months ago

Viennese Jewish – The Woman Who Invented WI-FI

The Woman Who Invented WI-FI. The most beautiful woman in the world in cinema and…

10 months ago

Sadhguru Quotes in nepali

“यस क्षण” कुनै सोच होइन । यो एक मात्र वास्तविकता हो तपाईं आफूलाई अरूसँग तुलना…

10 months ago

how to check See result with marksheet

Dear SEE Students: तपाईंको नतिजाको Grading system यस्तो रहनेछ ! कुनै पनि विद्यार्थी फेल हुने…

1 year ago

This website uses cookies.