Five people are dead after a Florida nursing home in Hurricane Irma’s path lost power, forcing residents to evacuate.
Three died at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills and two others were pronounced dead at the hospital, Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief said at a news conference Wednesday. The victims’ identities were not immediately made public.
The nursing home, located in Hollywood, about 20 miles north of Miami, has been in the dark since Irma struck earlier in the week, officials said. It may have had air conditioning problems, they added. Temperatures in South Florida this week have been in the 80s.
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Hollywood police said 115 residents were evacuated from the facility.
It was not clear whether the building had a back-up generator or what measures were taken to care for residents after the storm. Phone calls to the nursing home went unanswered Wednesday morning.
Irma cut power to millions of Floridians and killed more than 54 people across the Caribbean and southeastern United States as it rampaged across the Atlantic. As of Wednesday, nearly 60 percent of customers had electricity restored, according to Florida Power & Light.
Sharief said she had asked the utility company to prioritize getting power back for assisted living, nursing home and senior care centers.