Man dies while trying to drain pool during Hurricane Ian

A 72-year-old man died while trying to drain his pool as Hurricane Ian barrelled across Florida Thursday morning.

According to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, said the victim’s wife contacted authorities after her husband did not return to the house.

Deputies said they found the man’s flashlight upon arriving, then spotted him in a canal behind the home. He was unresponsive at that time, authorities said.

“Several deputies pulled the victim from the water and performed CPR until paramedics arrived, but the victim could not be revived,” a statement from the sheriff’s office said.

Investigators say the man was using a hose to drain the pool down a hill and into the canal, where there was a steep decline. They believe the man fell as the ground was extremely soft and slippery due to the heavy rain.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reported two fatalities Thursday morning. It’s unclear whether he included the man in Volusia County in his tally because he said they were still investigating whether the cause of deaths were related to the storm.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno expects the death toll in his county to be in the hundreds. Lee County is where Hurricane Ian first made landfall as a Category 4 storm on Wednesday.

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