Susceptible and Trapped: A Take a look at These Misplaced in Hurricane Ian

NAPLES, Fla. – Rose Marie Santangelo weathered many storms over the a long time dwelling close to the water exterior Naples, Fla. She thinks she’s ready for Hurricane Ian, too.

However like so many Floridians, 73-year-old Santangelo, a beloved aunt who retired from radiation most cancers, underestimated the storm.

“She actually thought it wasn’t going to occur right here,” stated Phyllis Santangelo, a niece. “After which when all of it occurred, I believe she knew it was going to be unhealthy.”

Ian has brought on extra deaths in Florida – at the least 114 – than some other hurricane in practically 90 years. 5 others died from the storm in North Carolina, as did one in Virginia. Like Ms. Santangelo, residents are trapped in floodwaters of their properties. Others cease respiratory when the facility outage renders the oxygen ventilator inoperable. Or they die of their automobiles throughout excessive tide.

However the storm’s affect, whereas extensively felt, was uneven.

A lot of the victims are aged. Two-thirds of them are 60 or older, and 30 have handed their eightieth birthday.

The useless concentrated in uncovered coastal areas and on barrier islands. Though the deaths had been reported in 21 counties, practically half got here from Lee County, in southwestern Florida.

And a lot of victims – at the least 58 – drowned, as a result of Ian’s dimension, comparatively gradual motion and excessive tides multiplied its menace.

As residents type by way of Florida’s wreckage, a have a look at who has died and the place has revealed how an getting older inhabitants on the coast proved notably weak to Ian. In lots of instances, the useless had pre-existing medical issues, waited too lengthy to evacuate, and had been trapped in floodwaters. In among the worst-affected areas, delayed evacuation orders because the storm diverted, including to the chaos.

Most of the victims had critical medical issues.

As Hurricane Ian approaches southwest Florida, 67-year-old Peggy Collson grows more and more frightened about her survivability. She lived alone on the island of Matlacha, in a modest one-story home alongside the water that had withstood earlier hurricanes. However Ms Collson, who’s cared for every day by nurses and can’t stroll with out help, knew she was in peril.

Days earlier than the storm hit, she was making an attempt to make preparations to go away the island, stated Jim Collson, her brother, who lives in New York. However ultimately she determined to remain. The morning of the storm, September 28, her worry was heightened.

“She was so nervous she was sick to her abdomen,” he stated.

Miss Collson drowned. She was discovered floating in a canal a number of blocks from her home.

Evacuating is very tough for a lot of older Floridians with well being issues, leaving them with restricted choices.

And there is Miss Santangelo, who has suffered from years of again accidents and sometimes makes use of a walker round her pink two-bedroom house.

Because the storm approached, Santangelo contacted relations in her house state of Ohio. However by the afternoon of September 28, she had stopped answering their calls and texts. When a neighbor stopped by to test on her the subsequent day, the sheriff’s incident report stated he discovered her useless on the kitchen ground. She drowned.

5 of Santangelo’s nieces and nephews got here from Ohio to scrub the home. Ten days after the storm, they stood round her candlelit kitchen island, ingesting their aunt’s favourite Pinot Grigio. They plan to scatter her ashes round her palm bushes.

“She was very a lot cherished,” stated Phyllis Santangelo. “She by no means had youngsters; We’re her youngsters. “

Lengthy look ahead to rescue typically too lengthy.

Alice F. Argo known as legislation enforcement 10 instances in practically 12 hours as floodwaters rose in her house in New Smyrna Seashore, on Florida’s Atlantic coast, the place Ian dumped heavy rain after when it landed throughout the state.

Round midday on September 29, Ms. Argo instructed dispatchers that the water was as much as her knees. She then instructed them that her husband, Jerry W. Argo, 67, had fallen and hit his head. She saved calling. They instructed her they’d a backlog of rescue calls and had been ready for specialised tools to get by way of the flood.

Lisa Mitchell, Argo’s daughter, stated Mr Argo had dropped a stool into the water. Miss Argo tried to raise his head to maintain him above the water. It isn’t sufficient.

By the point the Volusia County Sheriff’s Workplace responded that night time, Mr. Argo had died from drowning. He was one of many Floridians that the emergency workforce could not attain in time.

The sheriff’s workplace in Volusia County stated it’s trying into whether or not it must buy extra automobiles able to navigating excessive seas.

Miss Mitchell stated she wished she might assist, however she was additionally caught: “My entire yard was flooded.”

Ian’s demise toll is historic, however actual information could be fuzzy.

On October 1, shortly after Ian’s brutal affect on southwest Florida, a spokesperson for the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Workplace stated in an electronic mail that “we now have 23 deaths associated to immediately or not directly to the storm.” She added that the native health worker would then decide the official explanation for demise. Two days later, she stated the demise toll in Charlotte County had risen to 24.

However as of this week, the health worker there linked solely eight of these deaths to Hurricane Ian, deciding that many of the relaxation weren’t attributable to the storm.

The distinction within the numbers in Charlotte County underscores the subjective science of figuring out which deaths occurred throughout a hurricane had been brought on, at the least partially, by it.

A few of the findings had been apparent, like when an individual drowned after their house was flooded in a storm. However a number of are extra apparent.

In different Florida counties, health workers added 4 suicides, one murder, automobile crash and several other coronary heart assaults to the state’s official hurricane demise toll, confirming decided that circumstances attributable to the storm contributed to the demise toll.

The info on this article are primarily based on official state totals, primarily based on assessments by native health workers. In articles revealed earlier than the Charlotte County health worker confirmed that the opposite deaths had been unrelated to the storm, The New York Occasions relied on Charlotte County information offered by the sheriff’s workplace. As a result of it could take a very long time for health workers to conduct autopsies and report their findings, information companies usually depend on preliminary reviews from legislation enforcement to verify their findings. decide the extent of the harm of a hurricane.

It is comparatively widespread for deaths to differ: In Lee County, the health worker determined that the six deaths reported by the sheriff had been unrelated to Ian. A number of Florida counties continued to have extra deaths this week, that means the present toll is probably not remaining.

Removed from the coast, Ian nonetheless claimed victims.

Not lengthy after Ian landed, Craig Steven Markgraff Jr., who was touring with CJ, known as his brother for assist.

“I defined to him that I used to be very understanding,” stated his brother, Brett Markgraff, who’s hiding in one other city along with his son.

CJ, his father, and a pal had been making an attempt to climate the storm close to Zolfo Springs, a small city practically an hour’s drive from the Gulf Coast. However staying inland is defenseless from the large rainfall and flooding the storm brings.

When situations improved on the morning of September 29, Brett Markgraff set out for his brother’s home, however the street the place his brother lived was flooded. CJ stopped replying to texts, so Brett Markgraff tried to take a canoe to the home. He was stopped by state officers, who sealed off the realm.

Later, rescue groups rescued CJ’s father and pal, who had been discovered clinging to a tree. However there was no signal of CJ, who was final seen struggling to remain above the water when a present swept him away. He was certainly one of many Floridians who died removed from the coast.

Brett Markgraff stated rescuers instructed him they had been in search of CJ, 35, however after about an hour they wanted to maneuver on.

Mr Markgraff stated: “I used to be dumbfounded and helpless.

Just a few days later, a detective known as their father and stated that CJ’s physique had been discovered and recognized by his tattoos.

Some left the home, then received trapped.

Ian Conway, 61, a retired pilot, lives in a tanned one-bedroom home in a cellular house group in Estero, on the banks of the Estero River. Dwelling in an space susceptible to frequent flooding, he all the time assured Margot Conway, certainly one of his two daughters, that he would go to a shelter ought to a giant storm hit.

Ms Conway stated on the morning of Hurricane Ian, he emailed his siblings to say he was heading to a shelter. However he by no means received there.

Simply earlier than 7 a.m. the subsequent morning, a neighbor known as Mrs. Conway in Washington State. Her father was discovered useless from drowning, mendacity on a bench within the shuffleboard playground throughout from his home.

Mr Conway’s demise was certainly one of quite a lot of instances during which individuals left their properties, or sought shelter, made remaining preparations or assessed harm, solely to finish up being victims.

This previous summer season, Mr. Conway’s well being had taken a flip for the more severe. Miss Conway, an emergency room nurse, urged her father to enter supportive dwelling, however he wished to stay alone.

Ten days after the storm, Miss Conway spent a quiet second on the funeral house together with her father’s stays, taking part in the Smiths’ favourite tune.

“I needed to say goodbye,” she stated. “I did not assume I’d be capable of.”

Alex Lemonides and Campbell Robertson contribution report. Susan C. Beachy and Kitty Bennett Contributing analysis.