DeSantis Puts Florida's Isaias Death Toll at Six as the Panhandle Waits on Power

Hurricane Isaias has killed six people in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday, four of them newly counted. Earlier reports had put the toll at two, though the public record does not make clear which deaths were counted earlier and which are new.

Isaias came ashore near Destin on Friday night, Oct. 9, as a Category 2 hurricane. The northwest Panhandle was still digging out Tuesday. About 41,000 customers there had no electricity as of 7 p.m., according to the Florida Phoenix, citing poweroutage.com.

The higher toll matters because of how the governor described it. He characterized the new deaths as "a little bit more post-storm" and "attenuated from the storm," and he spoke about how Florida has traditionally counted storm deaths. The accounts of what actually happened to the four people do not agree, as detailed below.

How Florida Counts a Storm Death

DeSantis delivered the update at a Tuesday news conference in the Panhandle. Coverage carried by Yahoo News, which appears to be text from Fox Weather and the New York Post with a Vernon dateline (the author and date were not shown), quoted the governor on the state's approach.

"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."

By that description, the new deaths may be tied to the disruption the storm caused rather than to the hurricane striking someone directly, though the governor's words as reported do not spell that out. According to Florida Politics, he also noted that past storms have carried higher tolls.

The Details Do Not Yet Line Up

Readers should be careful here. The accounts published so far do not agree on what happened to the four people added to the count, and no official written breakdown or transcript of the news conference was found.

Florida Politics reported that two people died in a car crash at an intersection where the traffic signal had lost power, and that two others died after their medical care was interrupted. The Yahoo account also cited two deaths linked to disrupted medical treatment, but described the others as a tree accident during cleanup and a car crash, and referred to one death in a car accident. The Phoenix reported two deaths tied to health care interruptions and said no details were available on another. Liberty One News, an aggregator and a weaker source, reported something different again: a woman killed by a tree in Escambia County and a man dead from generator carbon monoxide poisoning.

None of the reports reviewed for this story named the victims, and Escambia is the only county mentioned, by Liberty One alone. A Reuters report describing the deaths as confirmed was not reviewed. Until the state or county medical examiners publish their findings, the circumstances should be treated as unsettled.

Hospitals, Nursing Homes and 600 Missions

The storm put real strain on health care facilities. A Florida Division of Emergency Management report dated Oct. 10, cited by the Phoenix, said seven health care facilities were evacuated: four assisted living facilities, one hospital, one nursing home and one center serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Sixty-nine providers reported power shortages, and 27 reported damage.

Florida Politics reported that the state emergency management division has carried out more than 600 response missions, and a related Florida Politics headline said the Florida National Guard rescued 113 people. Gusts reached 118 mph, with heavy rain and storm surge, according to the Yahoo account. Those figures come from partial text and have not been checked against a transcript.

DeSantis gave credit to local officials for getting the word out. "I think the local officials did a really good job of helping spread the word," he said, as quoted by the Phoenix. Alabama, separately, reported two more deaths, including one in Birmingham, according to Liberty One.

What Comes Next

Continued power restoration and cleanup are expected. The toll could change as post-storm deaths are counted, and official medical-examiner or state confirmation of the circumstances behind each death remains pending. No further briefing from the governor was found.