美国总统川普星期四前往佛罗里达西南部,听取飓风艾玛后恢复工作的简报,并与一些灾民见面。
川普计划前往佛罗里达的迈尔斯堡和那不勒斯。艾玛的飓风中心从这些地区穿过,夹带的暴雨和巨浪造成了大规模洪灾。
川普已经宣布佛罗里达州为重灾区,从而加快了联邦救灾资金的发放速度。
有关官员正在调查,佛罗里达好莱坞市八位养老院老人去世是否跟停电后空调无法工作有关。
这家养老院街对面的一个医院收治了很多中暑的老人,在这一过程中发现已经有八位老人去世,该养老院115位老人随后全部被疏散。
佛罗里达州州长斯科特要求就此进行刑事调查,称这种情况“匪夷所思”。
这家养老院显然是飓风来袭时就停电了,但是目前还不清楚,为什么发电机失灵,无法保持楼内凉爽。
斯科特州长已经下令,检查全州各地养老院的情况。
与此同时,法国和英国保证,要向加勒比海法属和英属地区提供更多的支援。
法国总统马卡龙星期三前往圣马丁和圣巴泰勒米岛视察。一天前,马卡龙在瓜德罗普承认,有人认为法国提供的帮助不够,因此感到气愤。马卡龙保证要向受灾的岛屿提供更多供给和保安部队。
英国外交大臣约翰逊星期三在安圭拉和英属维京群岛视察,这两个岛屿上周都受到了5级飓风艾玛的重创。约翰逊也表示,更多的安全部队和“大量供给”马上就到,他预计英国首相特蕾莎·梅星期三将宣布提供更多的援助。
联合国正向安提瓜岛、圣马丁岛以及特克斯和凯科斯群岛空运食物和最基本的救灾物资。
飓风艾玛在加勒比海造成至少37人丧生,对各岛屿造成重大破坏,其中包括巴布达岛,那里的居民已经全部撤离到安提瓜。
U.S. President Donald Trump travels Thursday to southwestern Florida to get a briefing on recovery efforts from Hurricane Irma and to meet with some of the people impacted by the powerful storm.
Trump’s schedule includes stops in Fort Myers and Naples. The center of Irma passed through those areas as it went up the western side of Florida with strong winds, and a combination of heavy rain and storm surge that caused widespread flooding.
He has already declared Florida a major disaster area, a move that speeds up the release of federal relief funds.
Recovery efforts are underway, but officials have cautioned that it will take a long time to repair the damage left by the hurricane that also devastated several Caribbean islands.
Officials are investigating whether a lack of electricity to run air conditioning is to blame for the deaths of eight nursing home patients in Hollywood, Florida.
The deaths were discovered when a hospital across the street from the nursing home began receiving elderly patients suffering from heat exhaustion, which led to all 115 people in the home being evacuated.
Governor Rick Scott has called for a criminal investigation, calling the situation “unfathomable.”
The retirement home had apparently been without electricity since the storm struck. It is unclear why generators failed to keep the building cool.
Scott has ordered authorities to check on nursing facilities across Florida.
Elsewhere, France and Britain are promising to boost aid to those hit by the storms in their territories in the Caribbean.
French President Emmanuel Macron visited Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy Wednesday after stopping on Guadeloupe. Macron has acknowledged the angry response some people have to what they see as inadequate help from France. Macron promised more supplies and security forces for the islands.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson toured Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands Wednesday. Irma was a Category 5 storm when it clobbered the islands last week. Johnson said more security forces and “huge quantities of supplies” were coming, and that he expects Prime Minister Theresa May to announce further aid.
The United Nations is airlifting food and other vital relief to the islands of Antigua, St. Martin, and the Turks and Caicos.
The hurricane killed at least 37 people in the Caribbean and devastated the islands, including Barbuda, which has evacuated all of its citizens to Antigua.