Irma deaths varied, violent
Falls, accidents, electrocution; here’s a county by county tally
It wasn’t Hurricane Irma’s powerful winds that killed Floridians. They died from drownings, heart attacks, electrocution, carbon monoxide poisoning and in crashes and falls, among other causes.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management, relying on information from county medical examiners, on Friday put the storm death toll at 50, shedding light on the causes of some previously unreported cases.
The state’s total, which lists information from 20 of the state’s 67 counties, is bound to rise. Its preliminary list doesn’t yet include at least 24 other deaths statewide under investigation, including 11 in Hollywood who died after a nursing home lost power and air conditioning during Irma.
Here’s a look at the state’s tally so far.
Broward County
Reported to the state: seven deaths.
Two died from blunt trauma, including Philip Woodson, 57, of Plantation, who fell off a ladder installing shutters. Woodson was on the top of the ladder reaching for bolts when he apparently lost his balance and fell to the concrete, hitting his head.
The second blunt trauma case involved awoman whowas sleeping on the tile floor on a mat to keep cool in her Miami Springs home. She was kicked in the neck by a family member who didn’t see her in the dark, according to the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office. The woman, who had previous soft tissue conditions, suffered severe trauma in an artery in her neck and was taken to a Broward hospital, where she died.
Two people died from cardiovascular disease, and one from a pulmonary disease. One man died from carbon monoxide poisoning, because there was a generator inside his house.
In one case, a man died from heat exhaustion — a case also attributed to chronic alcoholism — after the storm. He was found dead inhis bed in Hollywood, having been exhausted from clearing debris, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office.
Palm Beach County
Reported to the state: four deaths.
Elaine Kotake, 66, was found dead in her Loxahatchee home because of carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator. The generator was set up outside, but the exhaust pipe was pointed toward the garage, which was slightly open. (Three men also were hospitalized.)
In separate cases, one person died from blunt trauma, and two drowned, according to state officials.
Miami-Dade County
Reported to the state: four deaths.
Elvin Milian, 26, of Hialeah, and David Boatswain, 65, of Miami, died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
In other cases, one person died from electrocution and another from blunt force injury.
Collier County
Reported to the state: one death.
After power went out at his Naples area home, YusdelMoreno Iglesias, 35, went out to his garage to power electronics in his car while cooling off, according to the Naples Daily News. Police believe he died of carbon monoxide poisoning after falling asleep in the car.
Duval County
Reported to the state: five deaths. Three died from cardiac-related problems, and two drowned, according to state officials.
Hardee County
Reported to the state: two deaths.
Florida Department of Corrections Officer Sgt. Joseph Ossman, 53, and Hardee County Deputy Sheriff Julie Ann Bridges, 42, were both killed when they collided head-on on State Road 66 in Zolfo Springs early in the morning of Sept. 10.
Ossman was on hisway towork at the Hardee County Correctional Institute. Bridges was on her way home, reportedly after finishing her shift at a hurricane shelter.
Highlands County
Reported to the state: three deaths.
Police found the body of John Waters, 62, the morning of Sept. 15 after friends went to check on him at his home in Sebring. They found a large generator in his attached garage, the power switch still flipped to “on,” but no fuel in the generator. Waters died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
John Thrift, also of Sebring, collapsed after helping friends cut trees following Irma.
His death was attributed to heart disease, but is counted among deaths related to Hurricane Irma because the exertion of aiding in his neighbors’ recovery efforts likely brought on the heart attack that killed him, according to theMedical Examiner’s Office.
Aldous Hadden, an 82-year-old who according to his next of kin had Alzheimer’s disease, was found floating in a pond behind his house by a man who had been hired to do yard work after the hurricane.
He drowned, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office.
Hillsborough County
Reported to the state: four deaths.
Wilfredo Hernandez, 55, was clearing trees in Tampa on Sept. 11 when the chain saw he was using kicked up and cut an artery. He bled to death on the scene.
John Knight, 60, was cutting tree branches at his Tampa home on Sept. 14 when a branch fell and knocked him off his ladder. He fell about 20 feet and died.
According to state officials, another Hillsborough County resident died from blunt trauma, and one person drowned.
Lake County
Reported to the state: one death.
After falling at his home on Sept. 10 and again at an evacuation shelter Sept. 11, Ronald Beller was taken to The Villages Regional Medical Center, where the 85-year-old was diagnosed with bleeding and bruising around his brain, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office.
He was transferred to Shands Hospital in Gainesville and to Tavares Cornerstone Hospice, but died en route.
Lee County
Reported to the state: one death from blunt trauma.
Leon County
Reported to the state: two deaths.
One died from chest trauma, and another person died from blunt trauma and respiratory failure.
Liberty County
Reported to the state: one death from blunt trauma.
Marion County
Reported to the state: one death.
Matthew Nicklin, 10, died when his family’s mobile home caught fire froma candle thatwas lit after the home lost power.
Okeechobee
Reported to the state: one death.
The person died from pulmonary thromboembolism, or the blockage of arteries in the lungs, according to state officials.
Orange County
Reported to the state: five deaths.
Heidi Zehner-Daly, 50, died in a single-car accident Sept. 10 as Hurricane Irma passed over Orlando. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, she lost control of her car while heading south on State Road 417, hit a guardrail and died on the scene.
In Winter Park, 51-year-old Brian Buwalda was electrocuted when he came into contact with a downed power line.
Two teenagers and their 34-year-old mother, Desiree Diaz Molina, died from carbon monoxide poisoning, resulting from a generator in a garage attached to their home. Four others in the house were taken to the hospital.
Pasco County
Reported to the state: one death
Mart Daniels, 69, died inanauto accident shortly after leaving his home in Port Richey the night of Sept. 10. He had called his sister and told her that, fearing his house would flood, he was going to a nearby shelter. His car hit a tree a short distance from his home, and he died, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office.
Pinellas County
Reported to the state: one death
Kelly Sandridge, a 53-year-old cable repairman, was in Clearwater, 20feet up a ladder, fixing cable for acompany contracted by Spectrum when he fell. Hewas takento Bay front Health hospital in St. Petersburg, where he died.
Polk County
Reported to the state: two deaths.
A generator was brought inside the Lakeland home of 7-year-old Terryn Wilson to power a fan after the house lost power. Wilson died in her sleep from carbon monoxide poisoning the night of Sept. 13, according to a police report filed with the Medical Examiner’s Office. Her mother lived. After the hurricane, 63-year-old Carlos Arencibia stayed at a friend’s house in Winter Haven as his own was damaged in the storm. Arencibia complained of chest pains after the hurricane, but because he was retired with no benefits and a couple of years from Medicare, it took days to convince him to see a doctor, according to the police report.
When he went to an urgent care clinic, he was told his pain wasn’t heart related, according to his roommate, who went with him, the police report reads.
At some point that same day, Sept. 13, while alone in his room, he had a heart attack and died.
St. Lucie County
Reported to the state: one death. A5-year-oldboy drowned in his family pool near Fort Pierce Sept. 11as his father cleaned up debris in the front yard, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office reported.
Taylor County
Reported to the state: two deaths. Both deaths were due to carbon monoxide poisoning, according to state officials.
Volusia County
Reported to the state: one death.
Dorothy Giddins, 34, and two others were taken to the hospital early on the morning of Sept. 13 after they were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes from a generator. Giddins died at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, though the other two survived.
Further deaths
In Monroe County, authorities are investigating nine deaths that are storm-related, said sheriff’s spokeswoman BeckyHerrin.
Many remain unidentified and technical problems have hampered efforts to do computer and fingerprinting checks, she said.
The deaths include Roy Vincent Pardee, 60, whose body was found in a crashed car in Marathon during the storm and an older unidentified man found on a partially sunken boat offshore of Stock Island.
And Monroe is not the only county that has not yet reported death totals to the state, though it’s unclear how many counties haven’t reported them.
Meanwhile, other counties that have reported death totals to the state will need to revise them.
In Broward County, 11 deaths at The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills have still not been reported to the state. Neither has the death of utility worker Chris Reid, who fell Sept. 17 from the fifth floor of a parking garage in Fort Lauderdale.
And in Palm Beach County, not yet added to the state list is a man who died from carbon monoxide poisoning, linked to using a generator. Johnnie Kotake, 74, died Saturday at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said.
The medical examiner in Collier County is also investigating the death of Lamar Marteeny, 72. That investigation is ongoing, but a preliminary report filed with the Medical Examiner’s Office says it may have been due to sewage contamination.
And the medical examiner for Lake County is investigating a death in a traffic accident caused by downed traffic lights.
The medical examiner for Polk County has called the death of 77-year-old Harvey Friedman in Lakeland hurricane-related as well, though it has not yet been reported to the state. Friedman fell at an evacuation shelter and died after transport to a hospital.