At least 85 more deaths expected
Expected to claim up to 47 billion won in insurance premiums
▲ Paramedics inspect a collapsed bridge in Spring Hill, Florida, USA, which has been swept through by Hurricane Ion on the 2nd (local time). Pine Island, which was once connected by a bridge, is severely damaged and can only be reached by boat or plane.
Florida AP Yonhap News
The scale of damage is increasing in the southeastern part of the United States, which has been scratched by hurricane ‘Ion’.
According to Archyde.com on the 2nd (local time), at least 85 people have been killed by the hurricane since Ian landed on the Gulf Coast of Florida, USA on the 28th of last month.
Authorities in Lee County, Florida, one of the areas most affected by the hurricane, said the death toll had risen to 42. 39 people were also killed in four nearby counties.
Ion is considered the fifth most powerful hurricane in U.S. history. At one time, accompanied by strong winds of up to 240 km/h, Ion was rated as the second strongest Category 4 hurricane among Category 5 hurricanes. Hundreds of buildings have been flooded or collapsed, particularly in parts of Florida, with record-breaking downpours of once in a thousand years. Insurance companies predicted that the amount of claims for Ion damage would reach $28 billion to $47 billion, the largest amount since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
Rescue and recovery operations are also struggling. As of that night, at least 689,000 homes and businesses in Florida were still experiencing power outages, CNN reported. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said more than 1,100 people have been rescued from flooded areas in southwest and central Florida.
As the number of casualties spread, the theory of responsibility is also raised. In Lee County, the first evacuation order was not issued until the day before the hurricane landed, it turned out to be a day later than in other areas, CNN reported. Meanwhile, Governor DeSantis countered that the evacuation order was issued in time, saying the hurricane’s expected route had changed as it moved south.
The White House said in a statement on the same day that President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, visited Puerto Rico, hit by Hurricane Fiona on the 3rd, and will visit Florida on the 5th to inspect the damage.
Reporter Lee Tae-kwon