Hurricane Ian’s death toll climbs to 144 in Florida
Hurricane Ian was the deadliest hurricane to strike the state of Florida since 1935. The hurricane reached winds of over 145 miles per hour and caused extensive damage to homes and businesses along the coast of Florida, a large number of fatalities, and billions of dollars in estimated economic losses.
In the wake of Hurricane Ian, local, state, and federal authorities launched a coordinated response to provide immediate relief for those affected by the storm, as well as long-term efforts to rebuild damaged infrastructure and help residents recover from the devastation. Hurricane Ian caused over $50 billion in insured damages, according to estimates, making it the costliest storm in Florida history.
Nearly two and a half months have passed since Hurricane Ian, but the clean-up efforts are still ongoing in some parts of the coast, and the exact information on the death toll attributed to Ian was not available until recently.
On Friday, the Florida Medical Examiners Commission revealed that Hurricane Ian claimed the lives of 144 individuals across 19 counties in the state.
According to the data from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Lee County, which was the most damaged part of Florida, had 67 victims: 10 victims from Sarasota County; 10 from Collier County; 9 from Charlotte County; Monroe and Volusia counties had 7 victims each; Hillsborough and Manatee counties had five victims each; five people were killed in Osceola County; four in Hardee County; three in Orange County; three in Putnam County; Hendry County and Pol County had two victims each; while Miami-Dade, DeSoto, Lake, Martin, and St. Lucie counties each had one victim.
