MIAMI — Florida officials estimated more than 40 deaths across eight counties linked to Hurricane Ian, including from drowning and disconnected oxygen machines due to power outages.
The Florida Medical Examiners Commission on Friday reported seven drowning victims across Volusia and Collier counties, ranging in age from 64 to 91. The youngest fatality confirmed by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission was a 22-year-old woman in Manatee County.
Here is a summary of what Florida officials have reported by county:
CHARLOTTE COUNTY
12 deaths, all unconfirmed, according to Kevin Guthrie, Florida’s emergency management director
The medical examiner must determine if a death is storm-related or not, Guthrie said, which is why several counties have reported some deaths as “unconfirmed” for the time being.
COLLIER COUNTY
Three confirmed deaths from drowning. The victims included a 73-year-old women who was found on Thursday; a 73-year-old woman who was found on Wednesday; and a 64-year-old women who was found on Wednesday.
Guthrie said Friday morning that there were eight unconfirmed deaths in Collier County.
It was unclear if the three confirmed Collier County deaths announced Friday evening were included in the eight that Guthrie mentioned earlier in the day.
LAKE COUNTY
One death was reported of a 38-year-old man who died in a crash when his car hydroplaned on Wednesday, the the Medical Examiners Commission said.
LEE COUNTY
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno on Friday afternoon announced 16 storm-related deaths, and five deaths that are not storm-related. Marceno did not provide further details.
That’s the first preliminary fatality count out of the region that Gov. Ron DeSantis described as “ground zero” and “where the storm packed its biggest punch.”
MANATEE COUNTY
A 22-year-old woman who was ejected from an ATV rollover on Friday due to road washout died, according to the Medical Examiners Commission.
POLK COUNTY
One confirmed death, according to Guthrie.
SARASOTA COUNTY
Three deaths included a 71-year-old man who died from head injuries on Tuesday when he fell off a roof while putting up rain shutters, according to the Medical Examiners Commission.
The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office provided details about the deaths of a 94-year-old man who lived near the Palmer Ranch area and an 80-year-old woman who lived near north Sarasota, saying both individuals relied on oxygen machines that were disabled from power outages.
VOLUSIA COUNTY
Four fatalities from drowning, including a 91-year-old man who was found on Thursday; a 79 year-old man also found on Thursday; a 67-year-old man who was found on Friday; and a 68-year-old woman who was swept into the ocean by a wave and found on Thursday, according to the Medical Examiners Commission.
The official death toll continued to rise and emergency responders from across the state descended into the hardest-hit areas.
DeSantis on Friday noted that some of the newer buildings in the worst-hit areas like Fort Myers Beach, Captiva and Sanibel Island stood up to the storm.
“But man, I’ll tell you, those older homes that just aren’t as strong built, they got washed into the sea, some of them,” DeSantis said at a press conference. “And so if you were hunkering down in that, that is something that I think would be difficult to be survivable.”
In Sarasota County, where three deaths have been confirmed, Sheriff Kurt Hoffman described the storm as “significant and catastrophic.”
“I’ve lived in this community for over four decades and I have never seen a storm of this strength that has done this much damage,” Hoffman said in a Friday video.
Guthrie described a grim situation at a home in an undisclosed location in Lee County with apparent drowning victims.
“Let me paint the picture for you. The water was up over the rooftop but we had a Coast Guard rescue swimmer swim down into it and he could identify what appeared to be human remains.”
Guthrie noted that there are “a couple of other situations” in the area with similar circumstances.
Much of the county remains without power or water, and it saw 10-foot-high storm surges when the hurricane made landfall, according to Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno.
“It’s definitely the worst thing I’ve seen in my life, and I’m a lifelong Floridian,” Lee County Commissioner Brian Hamman told the Miami Herald on Friday. “We don’t even have water getting to the hospitals.”
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