SPECIAL REPORT: Hurricane Ian killed at least 148 people in Florida. Many of those deaths were preventable, an NBCNews investigation found.
people in Florida, most of them in coastal communities where the danger of storm surge is well documented but not widely understood. Scores drowned as they fled on foot, while in their cars or after seawater swallowed their homes. More than a dozen survived the flood itself but suffered life-threatening medical emergencies; by the time the storm finally allowed paramedics through, nine of them had died.was foreseeable and preventable, an NBC News investigation found.
NBC News has identified 148 deaths related to Hurricane Ian in Florida, based on public records obtained from local and state authorities . An NBC News analysis found that 119 were attributed specifically to the flooding, winds and other dangerous conditions during the storm.
“The education is out there. As Floridians, we just think we’ve got it. This storm showed us that we don’t,” said Jeannine Joy, the president and CEO of United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades counties. Lee County officials say they waited to issue the evacuation order until changes in the storm’s forecast direction put the county in Ian’s direct path the day before landfall.
A member of a search-and-rescue team checks a home for victims in the wake of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., on Oct. 3.A vehicle in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., with a sign that carries the number of hurricane victims.Service agencies for older adults under contract with the state Department of Elder Affairs keep lists of people to help plan for storms and evacuate, and to conduct welfare checks on clients after a storm has passed.
The only access to the Matlacha neighborhood, shown in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers, Fla., on Sept. 30.Collson, an avid cook who liked to kid and laugh, stuck firmly to her decision not to leave home, Jim said. Her resolve began to weaken two days before the storm, when she looked into a shelter. But the shelter didn’t have any beds available, just a wheelchair.
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