State officials say they have confirmed at least two deaths in Florida related to Hurricane Irma, but that death toll is expected to rise once officials further assess damage in the Keys and other hard-hit areas.
One person died in a single-car accident in Monroe County, and the second person died in Lee County after falling off a ladder while putting up storm shutters, according to Gov. Rick Scott’s office as of Monday afternoon.
It was not clear if the Monroe County accident was the same one reported Saturday in the Middle Keys where a woman had found a pick-up truck wrapped around a tree with a man dead inside.
Additional details about both incidents weren’t immediately available.
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Meanwhile, several other deaths have also been reported before and during Irma’s onslaught, which were not being counted toward the state’s official death toll for the storm.
For instance, St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar reported one fatality on Sunday night related to the weather. “An elderly couple was trying to protect themselves from water, and one of them suffered, what we believe to be, a heart attack,” he said during a news conference.
CBS4 in Miami reported Friday that a man in Davie died while putting up shutters. He, too, fell off a ladder.
On Sunday, a woman and a man — a county sheriff’s deputy and a state corrections officer — died in a head-on collision in Hardee County, but the Florida Highway Patrol on Sunday had not yet determined whether storm conditions were a contributing factor. The deputy reportedly was leaving her shift where she had been assigned to a local hurricane shelter.
The Orlando Sentinel also reported a deadly crash on State Road 417 in Central Florida, where a vehicle struck a guardrail Sunday night, killing the single occupant inside. The Highway Patrol couldn’t say if it was storm-related.
Check back for updates.
Angel Doval contributed.
Kristen M. Clark: 850-222-3095, kclark@miamiherald.com, @ByKristenMClark
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