A 72-year-old man died in the early hours of this Thursday when he went out to empty his pool in the midst of Hurricane Ian. that was overflowing due to the rains, informed the authorities of Volusia County, on the east coast of Florida.
The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, said in a pledge session this Thursday that for now there are information on two deaths after the passage of Ian, but it remains to be seen if they are directly linked to the cyclone, which made landfall in Cayo Costa (southwest Florida) with winds of 72 km/h this Wednesday.
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Mancelo had previously told a television channel that the “fatalities” s They numbered in the hundreds and that there were thousands of people in flooded areas waiting to be rescued in their jurisdiction.
The man who died in Deltona, Volusia County, may be one of the two victims mentioned by DeSantis , who also said today the impact of Ian in the southwest of the state was “historic” and the damage caused too, and it will take time to account for them.
According to the Sheriff’s Office that county, the agents went at 1 in the morning (5.00 GMT) to a house from which a woman had called to report that her husband had gone outside and had not returned.
The policemen found the unconscious man in a canal behind his house and pulled him out of the water and practiced resuscitation maneuvers without result.
Apparently the man was trying to evacuate the overflowing water from his pool with a hose in the middle of the l rain and wind when he slipped and fell into the canal.
Ian, the powerful hurricane that caused destruction this week in Cuba and southwest Florida, lost strength in its transit through the center of the southern US state last night and is now a tropical storm, although still capable of doing damage with “ catastrophic flooding” and gusty winds.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that Ian will produce strong winds and rains and storm surge in areas of the east coast of Florida and in Georgia and the Carolinas.
.The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced today that President Joe Biden has authorized the delivery of federal funds for those affected by Ian in Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Hillsborough, Lee , Manatee, Pinellas and Sarasota (west coast of Florida).
Assistance may include grants to cover temporary housing costs and home repairs, low-interest loans to cover losses not compensated by insurance, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects caused by the disaster.
You may also be interested in:
–Ian will become a hurricane again before hitting South Carolina on Friday
–Brigades could not go out to restore electrical service in Florida because winds from Ian had to be below 35 mph
–Storm Ian will continue to affect the US East Coast until Saturday after devastating impact in Florida