Six people died at a Florida nursing home after Hurricane Irma left the facility without power for days.
On September 13, police evacuated 115 residents from the facility, whose air conditioning was cut by the storm.
Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief said 3 people were found dead at the nursing home in the city of Hollywood. Three others died in hospital.
Ten million people are still without power in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas after Hurricane Irma.
The storm – which has claimed more than two dozen lives in the US – struck southwestern Florida on September 10 as a category 4 hurricane before weakening to a tropical depression on September 11.
Irma earlier left a trail of destruction in the Caribbean, where nearly 40 people were killed.
Hollywood Police Chief Tomas Sanchez said the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills facility has been sealed off and police are conducting a criminal investigation.
State investigators from the Florida Office of Attorney General were also at the scene, city officials said in a statement.
Hollywood Fire Rescue found several patients “in varying degree of medical distress and immediately began treatment” when they arrived at the Hollywood Hills facility on Wednesday morning, according to the city’s statement.
Some residents there awoke sick, the Miami Herald reported.
Kitchen worker Jean Lindor told the newspaper a generator allowed staff to cook but did not provide the facility with air conditioning.
On September 12, temperatures in Hollywood reached 90F, according to the National Weather Service.
The Florida Health Care Association called the deaths a “profound tragedy within the larger tragedy of Hurricane Irma”.
The facility is not the only Florida nursing home that has been left without power by Irma.
An estimated 150 facilities out of the nearly 700 in Florida are currently without full power services, the association said.
The group said it was working with officials to prioritize “the locations with the greatest need”.
More than half of a large retirement community in Pembroke Pines, Florida, still had no electricity by September 13, leaving elderly residents stuck in rooms with no access to lifts.
Pembroke Pines police spokeswoman Amanda Conwell told the Miami Herald that officers were at the scene.
Amanda Conwell said some of the 15,000 residents at Century Village were vulnerable and “we are concerned about their welfare”.
Another assisted care facility for dementia patients in Fort Myers, Florida, was left without power for three days after Hurricane Irma as elderly patients suffered in the rising heat.
Cape Coral Shores kept 20 patients during the storm as part of an agreement with authorities because local emergency shelters had been evacuated as Irma bore down on the coast.
Florida residents are still returning from shelters to their households to count the cost of Irma’s destruction.
According to authorities, preliminary estimates suggest 25% of the homes in the Florida Keys were destroyed and 65% sustained major damage.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit the hard-hit city of Naples on September 14 to view the damage, media have reported.
It will be the president’s third trip related to hurricanes in two weeks and he will be joined by First Lady Melania Trump.
The storm was downgraded as it moved north towards Atlanta, with maximum sustained winds of 35mph later recorded, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in a statement.
The NHC statement said that while heavy rain was expected to continue across south-eastern states, all storm surge and tropical storm warnings had been discontinued.
Media reports link at least four deaths to the storm in Florida. Last week it killed at least 37 people in Caribbean islands.
Meanwhile, White House Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert has announced that it will be some time before residents in the Florida Keys are able to return to their homes.
“I would expect that the Keys are not fit for re-entry for regular citizenry for weeks,” he said.
Speaking as he went on an aerial tour of the Keys, Florida Governor Rick Scott said: “Power lines are down throughout the state. We’ve got roads that are impassable, so everybody’s got to be patient as we work through this.”
The Keys are cut off from the mainland, as the 42 bridges that link them are being assessed for damage. According to reports, 10,000 people decided to ride out the storm.
Some 6.3 million people in Florida had been told to evacuate.
Irma hit Marco Island at 15:35 local time. It had earlier barreled through the Florida Keys, a chain of low-lying islands to the south.
The whole of the southern tip of Florida has seen high winds, driving rain and storm surges,
About 2ft of water has been seen in Miami’s financial district, where one major street resembled a river, but the worst damage is expected on the west coast.
President Donald Trump described hurricane Irma as a “big monster”. He praised the federal agencies involved with the storm and said he would go to Florida “very soon”.
Irma has strengthened to a category 4 hurricane as it approaches Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 130mph.
Wind gusts close to hurricane force are already battering islands in south Florida, with the mainland due to be hit in the coming hours.
Water levels are already rising on Florida coast, where a huge storm surge is expected.
At least 25 people died when hurricane Irma earlier hit several Caribbean islands.
In Florida, 6.3 million people – about 30% of the state’s population – had been told to evacuate. However, on September 9, Florida Governor Rick Scott said it was now too late to leave for anyone remaining.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warns that a “life-threatening storm surge” is expected in the Florida Keys – a chain of small islands in Florida’s south – and also the west coast of Florida.
Hurricane Irma is predicted to hit the coast on Sunday morning, but the outer bands are already affecting the south of the state and central Miami is being lashed by heavy rain.
The Florida Keys have suffered some minor damage and are expected to bear the brunt of the storm in the coming hours.
FEMA Administrator Brock Long told CNN there were “no safe areas within the Keys”.
“You put your life in your own hands by not evacuating,” he added.
Governor Rick Scott warned residents: “If you’re in an evacuation zone, you’ve got to get to a shelter need to get to a shelter… there’s not many hours left.
“The winds are coming, there is not gonna be a lot of time now to be able to drive very far.”
Thousands of people on the mainland are currently without electricity.
The western Gulf coast is expected to be worst affected, with cities such as Tampa and St Petersburg in the path of the storm.
The Tampa Bay area, with a population of about three million, has not been hit by a major hurricane since 1921.
Some 50,000 people have gone to shelters throughout the state, Governor Scott said.
Media reports say shelters in some areas have been filling up quickly and some people have been turned away.
Miami and Broward county have imposed curfews to help clear the roads of traffic.
Hurricane Irma has hit Cuba with strong winds and heavy rain after devastating several Caribbean islands.
The monster storm made landfall on the Camaguey Archipelago, in Cuba’s north-east, as a category 5 storm but has now weakened to a category 3.
The Bahamas have largely been spared.
In Florida, 5.6 million people, or 25% of the state’s population, have been told to leave as the storm approaches. At least 20 people are known to have died so far across the Caribbean.
Hurricane Irma hit the Sabana-Camaguey Archipelago on September 8, threatening nearby coastal towns and villages.
It was the first category 5 hurricane to hit Cuba in decades. It weakened to category 3 by September 9 lunchtime but is expected to strengthen again as it approaches Florida.
According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), at 12:00 GMT, Irma had maximum sustained winds of 130mph.
Irma has brought vast amounts of rainfall to parts of Cuba, with extensive flooding reported in the fishing village of Caibarien.
Power lines have been brought down in several parts of the central province of Camaguey, and communication is becoming increasingly difficult with towns in more remote areas.
Thousands of people have been evacuated but many others stayed to ride out the storm.
Cuban officials reported “significant damage”, without giving further details, but said there were no confirmed casualties yet, AFP news agency reported.
About 50,000 tourists are fleeing or have fled Cuba, with resorts on the north coast now empty, Reuters reports.
Hurricane Irma is expected to hit Florida on September 10, but the outer bands are already affecting the south of the state and downtown Miami is being lashed by heavy rain.
About 25,000 people are currently without electricity, energy provider Florida Power and Light reported.
Florida Governor Rick Scott issued a stark warning to those in threatened areas on the west coast.
“Look, it’s getting late,” he told NBC.
“If you’re not on the road on the west coast by noon, you need to get to a shelter, get to a friend’s house if you’re in an evacuation zone. Get off the road.”
Governor Scott said that storm surges in coastal areas could be as high as 12ft, adding that people “cannot survive this”.
Some 50,000 people have gone to shelters throughout the state, he said.
Media reports say shelters in some areas have been filling up quickly and some people have been turned away.
Brock Long, the administrator of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), has said that Hurricane Irma will “devastate” either Florida or neighboring states.
He said parts of Florida would be without power for days. Half a million people in the state have been ordered to leave their homes.
Hurricane Irma has left a trail of destruction in the Caribbean, affecting an estimated 1.2 million people.
At least 20 people are known to have died so far.
Irma has been downgraded to a category 4 storm, but officials warn that it remains “extremely dangerous”.
According to the US National Weather Service, Irma was expected to bring wind speeds of around 165mph over the weekend as it hits Florida.
Brock Long said: “Hurricane Irma continues to be a threat that is going to devastate the United States in either Florida or some of the south-eastern states.”
“The entire south-eastern United States better wake up and pay attention,” he added.
The death toll continued to rise on September 8 in the Caribbean.
France’s Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said nine people were dead and seven missing in the French territory on St Martin, an island shared with the Netherlands, and St Barthélemy, known more commonly as St Barts. Another death – the second – has been confirmed in the Dutch territory of Sint Maarten.
French officials said six out of 10 homes on Saint-Martin were so badly damaged that they were uninhabitable.
The US Consulate General in Curacao said it believes an estimated 6,000 Americans are stranded on the island.
French, British and Dutch military authorities have deployed aid – including warships and planes equipped with food, water and troops – to their territories.
Irma, which most recently lashed the Turks and Caicos Islands and brought torrential rain to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, was headed towards Cuba and the Bahamas.
The worst of the storm is expected to hit east and central Cuba, with the eye of the storm predicted to pass between the north coast of Cuba and the Bahamas, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
About 50,000 tourists are fleeing or have fled Cuba, with resorts on the north coast now empty, Reuters reports.
A huge evacuation of south-eastern, low-lying coastal areas in the Bahamas has been ordered. The tourism ministry said in a video statement that thousands of tourists left before the storm’s arrival.
Meanwhile Brock Long predicted a “truly devastating” impact on Florida.
South Florida “may be uninhabitable for weeks or months” because of the storm, the US National Weather Service said.
On the archipelago of Turks and Caicos, with its population of about 35,000, one witness described a drop in pressure that could be felt in people’s chests.
Irma ripped off roofs on the capital island, Grand Turk, flooded streets, snapped utility poles and caused a widespread black-out.
Irma also caused some damage to roofs, flooding and power outages in the northern parts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Irma is due to hit Florida as a category 4 hurricane on September 10, bringing storm surges and flooding.
Florida Governor Rick Scott said on September 7: “If you look at the size of this storm, it’s huge.”
“It’s wider than our entire state and could cause major and life-threatening impacts on both coasts – coast to coast.”
President Donald Trump said: “I can say this: Florida is as well prepared as you can be for something like this. Now it’s just a question of what happens.”
Hurricane and storm surge warnings have been issued for south Florida and the Florida Keys, the NHC says.
President Trump’s own Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach is among those ordered to evacuate, the Washington Post tweeted.
After ripping through Florida’s Atlantic coast, Irma is expected to move into Georgia and South Carolina.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said a mandatory evacuation on the state’s Atlantic coast was scheduled to begin on September 9.
Roads and airports have been jammed as thousands of people tried to evacuate areas at risk, with reports of fuel shortages and gridlock on some roads.
Many tourists are stranded with no seats left on flights back to their countries as flights to and from airports in Florida are being suspended.
Orlando’s international airport said commercial flights would stop from 17:00 local time on September 9.
Another storm, Jose, further out in the Atlantic behind Irma, is now a category 4 hurricane, with winds of up to 120mph.
Hurricane Katia, in the Gulf of Mexico, has strengthened to a category 2 storm, with winds of up to 85mph. A warning is in effect for the coast of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the storm is expected to make landfall on September 9.
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