Hurricane Michael death toll rises to 21 in Florida
The official death toll from Hurricane Michael has now risen to at least 21 in Florida — double the previously reported number.
Because of the extensive damage and continuing clean-up, some counties are still compiling numbers and had few details on the victims or how they died. The deaths so far included:
- A 94-year-old woman in Clay County
- A 44-year-old man in Gadsden County
- A 71-year-old man in Gadsden County
- Two others in Gadsden County, confirmed by the county’s emergency management director
- 12 people in Bay County
- Three people in Jackson County, confirmed by the county’s emergency management director and sheriff
- One person in Gulf County
Hurricane Michael’s death toll also includes six deaths in Virginia, three in North Carolina and one in Georgia, according to the Associated Press. That’s 31 overall from the powerful Category 4 hurricane.
Brock Long, the chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Monday that he expected the death toll to rise after hearing reports of those who refused to evacuate before Michael’s landfall.
At a briefing Tuesday night, state officials said 21 urban search and rescue teams are still at work. Around 95 percent of the primary search for the missing is complete, as well as 78 percent of the secondary search. Some of the missing people were found in hospitals and shelters today, officials said, but the reunification efforts are still ongoing.
This story was originally published October 16, 2018 at 2:39 PM with the headline "Hurricane Michael death toll rises to 21 in Florida."