How people have died from Hurricane Irma
home lost power and during Irma.
Here is a look at the state’s tally in Central and South Florida counties. air conditioning
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.
one death After falling at his home 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 Tavares Cornerstone Hospice but died en route.
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.
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 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.
one death Matthew Nicklin, 10, died when his family’s mobile home caught fire from a candle that was lit after the home lost power.
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 a woman who was 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 after the storm, found dead in his bed in Hollywood, having been exhausted from clearing debris, according to the medical examiner’s office. four
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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. In separate cases, one person died from blunt trauma, and two drowned, according to state officials. four
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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.