A pensioner has died after being caught out in Hurricane Ian while draining his swimming pool.
The 72-year-old from Deltona, Florida, died on the morning of September 29 as the category four hurricane tore through the state bringing catastrophic flooding, winds of up to 155mph and torrential rain.
The man was discovered unresponsive in a nearby canal and was later pronounced dead.
Local police said he was using a hose to drain the pool down a hill into the canal,
Officers responded to a home on Poinciana Lane near Lake Bethel around 1 am after the man's wife reported he hadn't returned after heading outside.
While searching for him, deputies found his torch, then spotted the him unresponsive in a canal behind the home.
The officers pulled him from the water and performed CPR but he sadly could not be revived.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Volusia Sheriff's Office said: "The initial investigation indicates the victim was using a hose to drain the pool down a hill and into a 30-foot-wide canal, where a steep decline into the water was extremely soft and slippery due to the heavy rain.
"The Sheriff’s Office sends its sincere condolences to the victim’s family."
The hurricane tore through the state, making landfall at around 3pm local time on September 28.
Its left over 2.6 million people without power and President Joe Biden has said multiple casualties are expected.
Speaking at the FEMA headquarters in Washington DC on Thursday afternoon, he said he could, however, only go off early reports as "the numbers remain unclear".
Mr Biden continued: “My message to the people of Florida and to the country: At times like this, America comes together. We’re going to pull together as one team, as one America.”
“However long it takes, we’re going to get there,” Biden said, adding: “That’s my commitment to you.”
Governor Ron DeSantis said that Lee and Charlotte counties, home to more than 900,000 people, were "basically off the grid."
The storm blasted ashore at the barrier island of Cayo Costa on Wednesday afternoon as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150 miles per hour.
It rapidly transformed Florida's southwestern shoreline, dotted with sandy beaches, coastal towns and mobile home parks, into a disaster zone as it swept seawater into waterfront homes.
"The impacts of this storm are historic and the damage that was done was historic," DeSantis said during a news briefing.
"We have never seen a flood event like this. We have never seen storm surge of this magnitude."
Pictures taken in the aftermath of the storm show the devastation it caused, with houses destroyed, boats washed into the streets and planes flipped over.
