MIAMI: The death toll from Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States, soared above 100 in Florida alone on Monday, officials said.
Homes, restaurants and businesses were ripped apart when Ian roared ashore as a powerful Category 4 hurricane on September 26.
The confirmed number of storm-related fatalities rose to 102 statewide, the Florida Medical Examiners Commission confirmed in its latest report, with the majority located in the state’s southwest.
Another five people died in North Carolina, the state’s governor has previously reported.
After making landfall, Ian passed over Florida and into the Atlantic Ocean before heading ashore again, this time on the South Carolina coast.
Officials have said it could take months – and perhaps $50 billion or more – to rebuild Florida’s devastated coastal zones. Ian was one of the deadliest storms to hit the United States this century.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the US Gulf Coast, devastating New Orleans and causing some 1,800 deaths and billions of dollars in damage.
Florida, Carolinas face daunting recovery after Hurricane Ian
Since then, deadly superstorm Sandy battered the country’s northeast in 2012, leaving a trail of destruction and some 120 deaths in her wake.
Irma in 2017 caused some 120 hurricane-related fatalities when it struck the US Southeast, shortly after Hurricane Harvey buffeted Texas, killing dozens and causing nearly $97 billion in damages.
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