Hurricane Irma power cut kills eight nursing home residents in Florida
Authorities believe the deaths were heat-related due to air conditioning cutting out, and have opened a criminal investigation.
Thursday 14 September 2017 09:07, UK
Eight nursing home residents have died after the building in Florida lost power due to Hurricane Irma.
Police have opened a criminal investigation into the deaths, which come four days after the coastal US state was battered by category three winds of up to 130mph.
Three elderly residents at the Hollywood Hills Rehabilitation Centre were found dead at the home, while a further five died later in hospital or while they were on the way to be treated.
The victims ranged in age from 71 to 99. Authorities believe their deaths were heat-related after air conditioning at the home cut out.
FPL, the company that partly supplies power to the home, said it met with police chiefs long before the storm season to discuss locations that would be prioritised for power restoration.
The Hollywood centre was "not one of them" but a hospital across the road was, a spokesman said.
The nursing home's other residents have been evacuated and the building has been sealed off.
Numerous death tolls from Irma's fallout vary, but officials say dozens in the US and Caribbean have been killed by the storm.
Victims include two women in Havana who died when a balcony fell on their bus and a two-year-old in Barbuda who was swept away from his mother when their roof blew off.
Several people have died of carbon monoxide poisoning from electric generators.
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![A stranded boat that was blown from the dock into a marsh after Hurricane Irma passed through in St Marys, Georgia]()
Image: A stranded boat that was blown from the dock into a marsh after Hurricane Irma passed through St Marys, Georgia -
![An uprooted tree that slashed a trailer in half in Kissimmee, Florida]()
Image: An uprooted tree that slashed a trailer in half in Kissimmee, Florida -
![Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands]()
Image: Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands -
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Image: Havana, Cuba -
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Image: A collapsed coastal house in Vilano Beach, Florida -
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Image: A French gendarme looks on during the visit of France's President Emmanuel Macron to the French Caribbean island of Saint Martin -
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![Senior Chief Naval Air Crewman Xipetotec Thorngate searches, during a reconnaissance mission over Key West, Florida]()
Image: Senior Chief Naval Air Crewman Xipetotec Thorngate looks out during a reconnaissance mission over Key West, Florida -
![British Army Commandos take part in recovery efforts in Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands]()
Image: British Army Commandos take part in recovery efforts in Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands -
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Image: St Marys, Georgia -
![Local residents try to enter areas of the Florida Keys]()
Image: Local residents try to enter areas of the Florida Keys -
![An aerial view of the houses destroyed by Irma during the visit of France's President Emmanuel Macron to the French Caribbean island of St. Martin]()
Image: The devastation in Saint Martin -
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Image: Watson Island in Miami, Florida -
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Image: Vilano Beach, Florida -
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Image: Islamorada, Florida -
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Image: Tourists walk past furniture left out to dry on the street after Hurricane Irma caused flooding and a blackout in Havana, Cuba -
![A boat is seen after being blown from the dock into the marsh after Hurricane Irma passed through in St Marys, Georgia]()
Image: A boat is seen after being blown from the dock into the marsh after Hurricane Irma passed through St Marys, Georgia -
![A woman sunbathes amongst debris on the beach after Hurricane Irma passed the area in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida]()
Image: A woman sunbathes among the debris on the beach after Hurricane Irma passed the area in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida -
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Image: Boris Johnson speaks to an RAF crew on his visit to the Caribbean -
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Image: Key Largo in the Florida Keys -
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Image: Isamorada, a village encompassing six of the Florida Keys -
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Image: Pastor Louicesse Dorsaint stands with his wife Maria in front of their church, Haitian United Evangelical Mission, in Immokalee, Florida -
![Flood waters from the Black Creek inundate a neighborhood in Middleburg, Florida]()
Image: Flood waters from the Black Creek inundate a neighborhood in Middleburg, Florida
US President Donald Trump has been travelling across the south of the country to see the damage various storms have wreaked on Texas and Louisiana.
On Thursday he will visit Naples, Florida. Half of all residents are still without power in the state and about 110,000 people remain in shelters.