Risks linger as Florida recovery picks up pace
Generators’ carbon monoxide poses big danger after storm.
Nearly a week after MIAMI — Hurricane Irma walloped Florida, the recovery mission picked up momentum Friday as more people had electric service restored and schools made plans to reopen.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long said in a news briefing that the government response the storm had shifted from saving lives to beginning the long recovery process.
Long said good progress was being made in getting people back into their homes or into temporary housing such as apartments or hotels. About 10,000 people in Florida remain in emergency shelters.
Federal officials are focused on restoring electrical power and getting gasoline into areas suffering fuel shortages. Long said the lack of electricity has affected fuel supplies because many gas stations had not been retrofitted to run their pumps on generator power.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who appeared with Long, urged people still without electricity in Florida and other affected states to be patient. He said the severe damage from Irma’s winds will require that parts of the power grid be rebuilt.
Perry said 60,000 utility workers from the U.S. and Canada are working in the disaster area.
Schools in some areas made plans to welcome back students. In the hard-hit southwestern part of the state, Lee County schools Superintendent Greg Adkins announced classes will begin Sept. 25. Three of the district’s buildings needed extensive roof repair.
Despite the progress, dangers lingered, mostly in the form of carbon monoxide from generators. In Palm Beach County, it seeped into a home, killing a woman and leaving three men in critical condition. Near Miami, a family of four was treated Friday for exposure to the fumes from a generator outside their apartment.
At least 34 people have died in the U.S. under Irma-related circumstances, the vast majority in Florida. The death toll across the Caribbean stands at 38.
Meanwhile, Florida continued to make urgent efforts to protect its vulnerable elderly residents. Eight people died at a nursing home when the hurricane knocked out power and the facility lost air conditioning. The deaths at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills were believed to be heat-related.
Several other nursing homes were evacuated because of a lack of power or air conditioning, and workers scrambled to keep patients cool with emergency stocks of ice and Popsicles.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced he had directed the Agency for Health Care Administration to terminate the Hollywood Hills center as a provider for Medicaid, which helps low-income people receive health care.
Elsewhere, Jose re-strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane in the Atlantic but posed little threat to land.
The National Hurricane Center said in an advisory Friday afternoon that Jose had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph as it tracked along a northwest course along the U.S. East Coast.
Some strengthening was forecast through today, with weakening possibly beginning late Sunday.
The center said swells from the storm could create dangerous surf and rip current conditions in Bermuda, the Bahamas, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, as well as along the southeastern coast of the U.S.