“We have a report in that there are 82 deaths,” Abbott told a news conference, adding the state is waiting on confirmation from local officials to make sure the deaths are storm-related.
Nearly 2 million, mostly in Florida, without power in Irma's wakeIrma, which ranked as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record before striking the U.S. mainland as a Category 4 hurricane on Sept. 10, took at least 82 deaths. Several hard-hit Caribbean islands, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, suffered more than half the fatalities.