Mayor Demings reports first Hurricane Ian-related death in Orange; damage estimates rise
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The first death in Orange County blamed on Hurricane Ian occurred Friday.
The victim, 75, who was not identified by name or address, fell from a ladder while trimming branches and hit his head, according to Mayor Jerry Demings, who cited a report by the Medical Examiner’s Office that serves Orange and Osceola counties.
The death was deemed an accident.
Two similar storm-related deaths were reported in neighboring Osceola County.
One victim, 71, was found face down in a foot of water inside his home Wednesday. Heart disease was listed as a contributing factor by medical examiners. The other victim, 72, fell from a ladder Sept. 28 while preparing for the storm and hit his head. He died on Thursday, according to the medical examiner’s report.
During a briefing Monday at the Emergency Operations Center, Demings said property damage from the storm is estimated by the Orange County Property Appraiser’s Office at nearly $189 million with about 1,100 properties reported to have “significant damage.”
“The number will likely continue to increase in the coming days,” he said.
Ian’s damage total so far is more than triple the property damage of $51.75 million caused by Hurricane Irma in 2017.
In an email to the Orlando Sentinel, Ana Torres of the Property Appraiser’s Office said Ian was responsible for an estimated $40 million in damage to 1,017 residential properties and a combined $2.4 million in damage to 410 mobile homes.
Assessment teams found an estimated $147 million in damage to 72 commercial properties.
Torres said assessment reports do not reflect any properties as being destroyed due to Ian.
Charles Williams, a Federal Emergency Management Agency representative who appeared at the briefing with the mayor, said the federal relief agency opened a recovery center Sunday at Barnett Park, 4801 W Colonial Drive, and met with 109 people affected by the storm to help them file claims for assistance.
Many need immediate help, he said.
“Temporary housing is one of them,” Williams said, though shelter is not the only need. “We have people who have been displaced from their apartment, their homes are uninhabitable. ... We’re reaching out to people who’ve lost their vehicles and other things.”
Since the storm’s end, debris-removal contractors, working seven days a week, have hauled off about 6,000 cubic yards of debris, roughly equal to 430 loads in a 20-ton dump truck. Demings said haulers estimate 50,000 more cubic yards need to be picked up.
“It is estimated that it will take five to six weeks to remove the remaining debris from our county,” Demings said.
Orange County’s solid waste facilities took in 38,000 tons of garbage over the weekend.
He said about 3,000 residents drove hurricane debris and other waste themselves to the county’s solid-waste facilities.
The county had suspended tipping fees — the charge usually assessed for dumping garbage at the landfill.
The mayor also was quizzed by reporters again about the county’s plan to fix flooding in Orlo Vista, the community of 6,000 where Ian’s deluge forced frustrated residents to flee their homes. Many had to be evacuated five years ago when flooding followed Irma.
“I believe our residents are well aware that there’s a long-term plan there that we are currently looking at,” he said.
Demings said county crews are monitoring the community south of Pine Hills where flood waters have receded.
He said FEMA teams also have walked Orlo Vista, trying to help residents with their immediate needs.
While county workers were tracking storm flow into wastewater plants, Demings said, they found some good news: a shrinking level of COVID-19 fragments. The virus is still present but “trending low” at all three county-run wastewater facilities, Demings said.
