A look at Irma’s victims

As Hurricane Irma’s misery grows in scope and scale, so does its death toll. The most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the open Atlantic claimed at least 70 lives as it tore up the Caribbean and the southeastern United States.

Still more are dying in its aftermath.

The victims include eight

residents of a sweltering Hollywood nursing home. Others have died in stormrelated traffic accidents, fallen from ladders, or been poisoned by generators running inside homes. Still others have drowned, been electrocuted, crushed by tree limbs and crumbling buildings, or suffered fatal injuries while cleaning up debris.

Here are details about some of Irma’s victims. FLORIDA At least 28 have died in Florida.

Eight die in sweltering Hollywood nursing home

Police have launched a criminal investigation into the deaths Wednesday of eight people in Hollywood, blamed on the stifling heat inside a nursing home, which lost power and airconditioning Sunday during Hurricane Irma.

In question are the actions taken to protect nursing home residents from the escalating heat.

Those who died: Gail Nova, 70; Estella Hendricks, 71; Carolyn Eatherly, 78; Betty Hibbard, 84; Bobby Owens, 84; Miguel Antonio Franco, 92; Manuel Mario Medieta, 96; and Albertina Vega, 99.

Loxahatchee carbon monoxide death

Elaine Kotake, 66, died after being overcome by suspected carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator being used to power her home near Loxahatchee, officials said. Davie ladder fall A 57-year-old man putting up shutters fell from a ladder at a height of about 15 feet and died Sept. 8.

It happened shortly after 10 a.m. in the 13700 block of North Garden Cove Circle. The man, whose name wasn’t released, was taken to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale and pronounced dead.

He was on a ladder placing the sheet of metal on a second-story window when he lost his balance, said Capt. Dale Engle. Florida Keys crash A man in the Florida Keys lost control of his truck Sept. 9, possibly because of high winds from the hurricane, and died. Authorities waited until the right moment during the bad weather to retrieve the body. Elvin Milian, 26, Hialeah Emergency responders from Miami-Dade County found the man ill Wednesday at his home, where a generator was running.

The county medical examiner is awaiting toxicology results before ruling on the cause of death, but authorities say carbon monoxide likely killed him.

Jan Lebron Diaz, 13; Kiara Lebron Diaz, 16; Desiree Diaz Molina, 34, Orlando

Orange County sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday found the two teens and woman dead, and four others were taken to a hospital for treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning.

A portable generator had been running inside the home.

Deputies said in a news release that those who died and were sickened appear to belong to the same family.

Yusdel Moreno Iglesias, 35, Collier County

A man from the Golden Gate Estates area in Collier County was found dead in his garage Monday, a case in which carbon monoxide poisoning was suspected, a sheriff’s spokeswoman told the Naples Daily News.

Terryn Wilson, 7, Lakeland

Terryn died Wednesday from carbon-monoxide intoxication at her home, where a generator was running inside after Hurricane Irma, a medical examiner said.

Polk County sheriff ’s officials said her mother, Shashunda Wilson, called 911, saying she woke up feeling dizzy and her daughter appeared to be dead. They had been sleeping in the bedroom with a fan blowing.

Rescue workers found the mother sitting outside. She was taken to a Miami hospital after telling rescuers the generator was still running in the living room. They had to open windows to let the deadly gas out before retrieving the girl’s body.

The mother “told detectives that she recently obtained a generator due to having lost power during Hurricane Irma, and that this was the first time she had used one, and she was not aware that it could not be in the home,” the sheriff ’s statement said. Freddie Bryant, 68, Largo Bryant, preparing to evacuate his mobile home because of the approaching hurricane, died after falling and striking his head, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Bill Pellan, director of investigations for the office that serves Pinellas and Pasco counties, said Bryant died Friday at a St. Petersburg hospital, a day after the accident outside his home.

Pellan said Bryant fell as he and his wife packed their car. He died as a result of complications from blunt head trauma.

The death preceded the storm but came after Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency Sept. 4.

Mart Daniels, 69, Port Richey

Daniels, who feared storm-related flooding and fled his home, died Sunday night after crashing his vehicle into a tree, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Bill Pellan, director of investigations for the office that serves Pasco and Pinellas counties, said Daniels died at the scene. The autopsy ruled the death was accidental.

Vincent Forest, 55, Lake Placid

Forest fell off a ladder on Saturday as he was preparing his home for Hurricane Irma. He was pronounced dead the next day at a Tampa hospital. His autopsy concluded the cause was blunt impact to his head, including skull fractures, brain bruising and internal bleeding, according to the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s office.

Forest was married and worked for the Glade and Grove Supply Co. agricultural dealership.

David Boatswain, 65, Miami

Authorities suspect Boatswain died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator running inside his home.

A neighbor discovered Boatswain in his home Monday morning after he didn’t answer his phone, Miami-Dade Police Officer Robin Pinkard said Tuesday. A medical examiner is investigating, but emergency responders said the home tested positive for carbon monoxide.

“Unfortunately in this case, the generator was run inside the house and the individual died of carbon monoxide poisoning,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said.

Joseph Ossman, 53, Sebring; Julie Bridges, 42, Wauchula

Ossman, a sergeant with the Hardee Correctional Institute, was headed to work Sunday morning and Bridges, a Hardee County sheriff’s deputy, was going home after the night shift when their vehicles collided head-on, according to a Florida Highway Patrol release.

Ossman’s car ended up on a grass shoulder, while Bridges’ patrol car came to rest in a nearby intersection. It wasn’t immediately clear which vehicle crossed into the oncoming lane.

Lt. Gregory Bueno confirmed the area was affected by rain and other hurricanerelated conditions at the time of the crash, but its official cause remains under investigation.

Brian Buwalda, 51, Winter Park

Buwalda died Monday after apparently being electrocuted by a downed power line, police said.

Winter Park officers responded to reports of a man lying in the roadway and determined Buwalda was dead. A medical examiner will determine an official cause of death, but police say it appears to be accidental.

Heidi Zehner, 50, Orlando

Zehner was driving on a state highway near Orlando on Sunday evening, when she lost control and crashed.

Her SUV struck a guardrail. The cause of death was under investigation.

The accident came a couple hours after Irma made landfall 200 miles to the south on Marco Island.

Wilfredo Hernandez, 55, Tampa

Hernandez died when the chain saw he was using to clear trees in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma became entangled in a branch, causing it to kick up and cut his carotid artery.

Hillsborough County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Cristal Nunez said in a news release that Hernandez was clearing trees in Tampa on Monday on when the accident occurred.

Nunez said deputies used a harness to lower the man from the tree, but he died at the scene. John Knight, 60, Tampa Knight was cutting a tree branch at his home Thursday afternoon during cleanup from the storm when the branch hit him, knocking him off a ladder, a witness told the Hillsborough Sheriff ’s Office.

Knight fell between 20 feet and 25 feet, and deputies found him on the ground, according to a statement from the Sheriff’s Office. Hillsborough County Fire Rescue pronounced Knight dead at the scene.

Matthew Aaron Nicklin, 10, Ocklawaha

Nicklin died after his family’s mobile home caught fire Thursday in central Florida that, according to neighbors, was caused by a candle.

The mobile home had been without power since Hurricane Irma and two other children who escaped said a lit candle bent and caught a drape on fire. The blaze also left a 1-year-old hospitalized, but the child was reported in stable condition Sunday. GEORGIA At least three people have died in Georgia.

Stanley Williams, 59, Sandy Springs, Ga.

Williams died when a tree fell on his suburban home, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office in Atlanta said Wednesday.

Investigator Mark Gilbeau said Williams was crushed Monday by the fallen tree.

Nancy Eason, 67, Forsyth County, Ga.

Eason, a retired court reporter, was in the passenger seat Monday when a large tree fell in a driveway, crushing her and trapping her husband, Mike Eason, who was in the driver’s seat and suffered minor injuries, sheriff ’s officials said.

Nancy Eason worked for the Forsyth and Cherokee county judicial systems for many years. Mike Eason is a retired Georgia Bureau of Investigation special agent and served as chief of the Cumming Police Department from 2005 to 2009. On roof during storm The body of a 62-year-old man who climbed a ladder behind his home was found under debris on the roof of his shed in southwest Georgia, where winds topped 40 mph, Worth County sheriff’s spokeswoman Kannetha Clem told The Associated Press. His wife had called 911 saying he’d had a heart attack. His name wasn’t released.

“He was lodged between two beams and had a little bit of debris on top of him,” Clem said. “He was on the roof at the height of the storm.” SOUTH CAROLINA At least four people died in South Carolina.

Charles Saxon, 57, Calhoun Falls, S.C.

Saxon died Monday after being struck by a tree limb as he was cleaning up limbs and debris outside his home, according to Abbeville County Coroner Ronnie Ashley. He died at the scene.

William McBride, 54, Sumter County, S.C.

McBride was pronounced dead Tuesday after he was found lifeless at his mobile home, where a generator was running inside, according to Sumter County Coroner Robert Baker Jr.

Baker says McBride died from carbon monoxide poisoning. McBride’s sons found him at the home Tuesday morning, and the coroner said he had several appliances plugged into the generator, with only a single window cracked for ventilation.

Arthur Strudwick, 48, Columbia, S.C.

Strudwick, a city Public Works Department employee, was on his way to help with a downed tree Monday night when he crashed his vehicle, according to Columbia City Manager Teresa Wilson.

Police said it appears Strudwick lost control of his pickup truck and went off the road, striking a tree during windy and rainy conditions. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Wilson said the city’s flags will be lowered to honor Strudwick, who worked for the department’s forestry division. Zhen Tain, 21 Tain died Monday in the storm, in a two-car wreck on Interstate 77 in Columbia, authorities told The Post and Courier. NORTH CAROLINA At least 1 person died in North Carolina.

Carbon monoxide poisoning

A man was found dead Tuesday in his home in Henderson County, North Carolina, from carbon monoxide poisoning, marking the first dead in the state attributed to Hurricane Irma.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said the man was using a generator after the storms knocked out power to his home. He has not yet been identified. CUBA At least 10 people died in Cuba.

Maria del Carmen Arregoitia Cardona, 27, Bauta, Cuba; Yolendis Castillo Martinez, 27, Santiago de Cuba

The women were riding in a bus in Havana that was crushed when a fourthfloor balcony collapsed onto the vehicle, according to an official statement released by the Cuban government.

Osvaldo Abreu Barroso, 71, Havana, Cuba

Barroso was electrocuted while trying to take down his television antenna. He fell and came in contact with a live wire, according to the government statement.

Alberto Francisco Flores Garcia, 77, Havana, Cuba

Garcia was struck by an electric pole toppled by the wind as he walked down a street, according to the government statement.

Roydis Valdes Perez, 54, Havana; Walfrido Antonio Valdes Perez, 51, Granma, Cuba

The brothers were killed when the home of Roydis Valdes Perez partially collapsed in the storm, according to the government statement.

Nieves Martinez Burgaleta, 89, Plaza de la Revolucion, Cuba

Burgaleta was found floating in flood waters in front of his inundated apartment building, according to the government statement.

Alberto Manzano Martinez, 65, Matanzas, Cuba; Orlando Torres Cruz, 53, Bolivia; Edilberto Cabrera Rodríguez, 64, Esmeralda Camaguey, Cuba

Government officials said the homes of all three men collapsed, and added they “did not observe the norms of conduct” by “refusing evacuation.” BARBADOS Zander Venezia, 16 Venezia, a professional surfer, drowned on Sept. 5 while surfing large swells generated by the hurricane on the island’s east coast, according to family friend and surfing instructor Alan Burke. Witnesses said Venezia was caught up in a monster wave that held him under water. Burke said it was a freak accident that occurred under blue skies and ideal surfing conditions when the storm was still hundreds of miles away.

Venezia had won North Carolina’s Rip Curl Grom Search surfing competition for his age group in August. BARBUDA Carl Junior Francis, 2 Carl, who had just turned 2 on Aug. 17, was swept to his death after the storm ripped the roof off the family’s house and water came in. The child’s mother, Stevet Jeremiah, fled with her husband and Carl’s 4-year-old brother but was unable to save the toddler.

“Where they were staying, the roof [was] blown off from the house and then water started getting in the house,” said Sgt. James Thomas, second in command at the Barbuda police station. “They were trying to get out of the house when apparently the child got loose and got trapped in the water.” ST. MAARTEN

Four people died from the storms on the Dutch half of the island, which has a population of about 44,000. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said two bodies washed ashore on the island and their identities are unknown. ST. MARTIN/ ST. BARTS

Nine people died in the damage from the hurricane, on the French islands of about 30,000 people. U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS

Rescue crews found four people dead amid the rubble in the U.S. territory and officials expect to find more bodies as they clear debris. The islands’ Gov. Kenneth Mapp said in a video that rescuers found the four people among the ruined homes in Saint Thomas after the storms passed, but the cause of death is unclear. BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS

Four people were killed in the British territory, which has a population of about 31,000. ANGUILLA

One person was reported dead on the British island of about 15,000 people.