A/C outage kills 8 in hurricane-hit Fla. nursing home

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said he was “heartbroken” to learn of the deaths and he is “going to aggressively demand answers.”

“This situation is unfathomable,” Scott said in a statement. “Every facility that is charged with caring for patients must take every action and precaution to keep their patients safe — especially patients that are in poor health.”

An employee at the 152-bed nursing home told NBC-Miami the building was cool on Tuesday, but dangerously hot by Wednesday morning.

The victims who died have been identified as Bobby Owens, 84; Manuel Mario Medieta, 96; Miguel Antonio Franco, 92; Estella Hendricks, 71; Gail Nova, 71; Carolyn Eatherly, 78; Betty Hibbard, 84, and Albertina Vega, 99.

“They were sick already,” Dr. Craig Mallak, Broward County medical examiner, told the Associated Press. “It’s going to be tough to tell how much was the heat and how much of it was they were sick already.”

Patient Ofelia Carrillo, 97, needed a special chair to be taken out of the center. The situation infuriated her daughter, Madeleine Alvarez.

“This is the most stressful situation I’ve lived in my life,” she told The Associated Press.

Most of the evacuated patients were treated for respiratory distress, dehydration and heat-related issues, officials said, and about 12 of patients remained in the emergency room as of late Wednesday.

Officials said 18 additional patients from a second adjoining facility were being relocated, though these patients were “not medically compromised.”

Jorge Carballo, the home’s administrator, told the Sun Sentinel the air conditioner wasn’t working because of a “prolonged power failure to the transformer” sparked by the storm. It wasn’t clear for how long the center was without power.

“It’s a sad state of affairs,” Sanchez said at a news conference.

Dozens of hospital staffers rushed to the nursing home when the evacuation order came in.

The center was cited in February 2016, when inspectors found problems with the generator’s maintenance, along with other safety issues, according to state records. The problems were corrected within a month, the Sun Sentinel reported.

All operational facilities among Florida’s 309 hospitals have power or are running on generator power, Scott said, noting that 10 hospitals are closed and cooperating with the state on a schedule for reopening.

President Trump confirmed he’ll visit Florida on Thursday to assess the damage.