The number of deaths that Hurricane Irma caused in Florida, where it passed last September, reaches 84 people, according to information updated today by the state Emergency Management Division provided to Efe.
This official figure, still provisional, represents an increase of 72 deaths reported this office last month and consigns new data given by several counties on deaths attributable to the hurricane, which passed through this state in September.
The number already includes the deceased on September 13 at a home for the elderly in Hollywood, in Broward County, due to a heat stroke in the absence of air conditioning due to the power cut that caused Irma.
Thus, the list of deaths is headed precisely by that county, with 21 deaths, followed by Orange counties, where Orlando, and Monroe, which covers the Florida Keys, both with six deaths.
It was precisely in Cayo Cudjoe where last September 10 Irma’s eye touched down with category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, and its passage through this strip of islands of 120 miles (193 kilometers), in the extreme south-west Florida, caused the lack of energy and water for days, in addition to leaving houses destroyed and roads covered with debris.
This week, and after the break for the Christmas holidays, the Monroe County authorities resumed cleaning work on the so-called Cayos Bajos, where the Cudjoe Cay is located, an area where more than 763,000 meters have been collected since September. Cubic debris, according to local media reports flkeysnews.
After making landfall in the Keys, Irma went back to the sea for a few hours after hitting Florida again, where she hit land again on Marco Island (in Collier County), then in the western city of Naples, both with category 3 , after which he toured the state from north to south.
Although state authorities have not yet quantified the damage caused by this major hurricane, the first of its kind to hit Florida since Wilma in 2005, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam estimated losses of $ 2.5 billion for Florida. this sector as a consequence of the cyclone.
The US House of Representatives approved a $ 81 billion supplementary aid package this month, targeting territories affected by hurricanes and including $ 2,600 million for Florida’s agricultural sector, the nation’s main supplier of citrus. country.
The state’s Emergency Management Division announced that until December 14, several federal agencies had given Florida almost 2,500 million dollars to cover losses related to Irma.
