As Ian's death toll rises, questions swirl on why more Floridians didn't evacuate
Most deaths were in Lee County, where local officials delayed hurricane evacuations until the day before the storm hit. Leaders in other nearby counties ordered evacuations a day earlier.
In Florida, at least 119 people died in Hurricane Ian. Most of those deaths came from drowning in a storm surge as high as 18 feet in some areas.
The largest number of fatalities was in Lee County, home to three islands that saw the greatest impact from the storm. But it was also a county that delayed ordering residents to evacuate for more than a day, despite warnings from meteorologists that it would see "life-threatening" flooding.
Medical examiners are. Brian Wolshon, a civil engineering professor at Louisiana State University who studies evacuations says, "Obviously, if there's a death, there's a failure someplace. But it's hard to assign where that failure is in the system."
