Hurricane Isaias death toll rises to six in Florida as schools reopen and the recovery widens

Five days after Hurricane Isaias came ashore on the Florida Panhandle, the storm is still killing people, now in the cleanup rather than the landfall.

Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Tuesday that the Florida death toll has risen to six. The two newest deaths came after the storm: a woman killed when a tree fell on her home in Escambia County, and a man who died of carbon monoxide poisoning after using a generator improperly. DeSantis described the four earlier 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. He explained that Florida counts deaths linked to the fallout of a storm, not only deaths at the moment a house is destroyed. Two additional storm related deaths were reported in Alabama, including a person killed when a tree fell onto a Birmingham home.

Isaias made landfall near Destin at about 9:30 p.m. on Friday, October 9, as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour and gusts reaching 116 miles per hour in parts of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. Photographs from Pensacola Beach show a house with an entire side ripped off. Power has been restored to more than 70 percent of impacted customer accounts, nine points of distribution are open across Escambia, Santa Rosa, Walton and Washington counties with free bottled water and food, and Walmart and its foundation committed one million dollars in funding and supplies, including free hot meals, showers and laundry at Panhandle locations. Nearly 400 Florida State Guard soldiers are working on damage assessments, debris removal, road clearance and supply distribution.

The state moved on the governor's timetable. Santa Rosa County schools reopened on Wednesday, October 14, under direction from DeSantis and the state education department to have northwest Florida schools running five days after the storm, with any campus not judged safe held back. Milton High School's gymnasium roof was partially blown away, and Hobbs Middle School and Gulf Breeze High School also took damage. Florida's agriculture commissioner opened interest free disaster loans of up to 500,000 dollars for farmers, ranchers and growers across thirty counties to rebuild fences, equipment and greenhouses and clear debris. Tesla is offering free Supercharging in Gulf Breeze, Destin and Pensacola from October 13 through October 18 for owners in the storm zone. The picture is an illustration of Panhandle storm damage, not a photograph of a specific house.