Hurricane Irma death toll rises to 72 in Florida
Hurricane Irma killed 72 people in Florida when it battered the southern state on September 10, according to an updated death toll that includes figures from individual counties.
Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) spokesman Alberto Moscoso confirmed an official toll of 54 to AFP Tuesday.
But this figure does not include eight known victims in the Florida Keys, or 10 elderly victims who died in a nursing home north of Miami.
County coroners in Monroe, which includes the Keys, have not yet confirmed an official number of fatalities to the FDEM, but a post on the county’s Twitter account said eight people died during the storm.
According to the FDEM, the primary causes of death in Florida included drowning, trauma injuries and carbon monoxide poisoning — which can occur as a result of using indoor electricity generators.
The Florida Keys bore the brunt of Hurricane Irma, which struck as a Category Four storm with winds reaching over 130 miles (210 kilometers) per hour.
Irma also killed at least 40 people when it ripped through the Caribbean, bringing the total death toll to at least 112.
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