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The death toll in Florida from Hurricane Isaias has risen to six, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced during a news conference Tuesday.
The updated storm-related death toll follows reports of two additional deaths: a woman who was killed when a tree fell on her home in Escambia County and a man who died from carbon monoxide poisoning after improperly using a generator.
Gov. DeSantis said the newly announced deaths occurred “a little bit more post-storm” and were “attenuated from the storm.”
“The way Florida has typically done this is it’s not just if the storm knocks over your house and somebody gets killed, they kind of link anything that is even a fallout of the storm,” Gov. DeSantis said.
Gov. DeSantis described the four storm-related deaths as a “tragic accident” involving a falling tree during cleanup, one death in a car accident and two deaths resulting from disruptions to medical treatment.
The grim update comes as recovery efforts continue across a concentrated area of northwest Florida, days after the dangerous Category 2 hurricane made landfall near Destin on the Gulf Coast around 9:30 p.m. ET Friday.
Two additional storm-related deaths were reported in Alabama, including one person who was killed when a tree fell onto a Birmingham home.
Details surrounding the second death were not immediately available.
Florida bore the brunt of Isaias’ worst landfall impacts, with destructive wind gusts reaching 118 mph, heavy rain and dramatic storm surge leaving communities along the Panhandle in shambles.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said about 95% of customers who lost power during Hurricane Isaias had been restored.
The storm left more than 400,000 Florida customers without power at one point during landfall on Oct. 9.
Over 20,000 customers remained without power Wednesday morning, primarily in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, according to PowerOutage.com.
In Escambia County alone, initial damage assessments following the damaging hurricane are estimating approximately $64 million in costs for county repairs, emergency response and recovery efforts.
Florida’s state-led Hurricane Isaias recovery effort is shifting from immediate response to aftermath impacts like debris removal, damage assessments and aid distribution across the Panhandle.