Opinion: Officials acted irresponsibly by overinflating Ian death count

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno decided to break the grim news on national TV. You know, because no one covers a Florida hurricane quite like Good Morning America.

"I definitely know the fatalities are in the hundreds," he said the morning after Hurricane Ian tore through Southwest Florida.

Soon, every other national news outlet was trying to goad Marceno into repeating the same statement. He didn't bite, however, and it wasn't long before GMA removed the interview clip from its website. That's because the number was not officially accurate.

The Florida Medical Examiners Commission determines official death counts, and its most recent release put Lee County's at 52, significant and tragic to be sure, but nowhere close to Marceno's original number.

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Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell, not to be outdone, held a press conference on Oct. 2 and stated the death toll in his county was already at a staggering 24, far exceeding the count in 2004 when historically devastating Hurricane Charley struck.

According to the FMEC, however, the number in Charlotte County from Ian stands at six.

These overinflated inaccuracies from elected government officials are irresponsible, to say the least, and everyone affected deserves better from the leaders they rely on.

The damage from this storm has caused people to put guns to their heads and pull the trigger, like those who jumped out of skyscrapers during 9/11. That's how devastating it was.

During a time when people needed facts delivered officially and accurately, they received Trump's Sharpie instead, and that is unacceptable. If they couldn't get this right, what else did they say that was wrong?

Part of the problem is the national media reporters and anchors. They swoop in for two days, do a couple of live shots in front of a mangled gas station sign, tell the mayor they will help in any way they can, and then blow town, never to be seen again.

Six months later, meanwhile, people still don't have roofs.

Local officials always fall for it. They can't wait to get on national TV and exaggerate the death toll to the viewers in Butte, Montana.

Remember Ray Nagin, the former mayor of New Orleans? Back in 2005, Nagin went on the Today Show and said, "it wouldn't be unreasonable to have 10,000" deaths from Hurricane Katrina.

A 2008 report from the Louisiana Health Department put the total at 986.

The day after Nagin's outlandish statement, he went on the Oprah Winfrey Show – another national TV hurricane expert – and said, "They have people standing out there, have been to that frickin' Superdome for five days, watching dead bodies, watching hooligans killing people, raping people. That's the tragedy.''

No, the tragedy was saying some people being sheltered in the Superdome were raped and murdered when no official report confirmed the statement.

Later, Nagin would say, "as far as exaggerations, I was in the moment."

The truth is, death counts from major hurricanes are always imprecise, and there have been decades-long debates as to what constitutes an official death too. Does it have to be directly related to the storm, or can it be in the aftermath? Many people die falling off their roofs while repairing them, for example. Should that count?

It is still not known exactly how many died in Katrina, and how can anyone know for sure how many perished in the storm of 1928 related to Lake Okeechobee, considered the worst in U.S. history? Estimates have put that number between 2,500 and 2,800.

When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, the original death toll was only in the dozens. A later study said it was thousands more, as a lengthy blackout killed many people in medical need.

After Ian struck, President Biden, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Marceno and Prummell weighed in on the early death count but clashed with each other.

"This could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida history," Biden said during a press conference. "We are hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life."

DeSantis, meanwhile, has proven to be one of the most reasonable and reassuring voices concerning Ian, and he tempered Biden's claim by saying it would be nowhere near the storm of 1928.

By any definition, Hurricane Ian will go down in the books as one of Florida's costliest and deadliest, which makes overinflated comments such as Marceno's and Prummell's all the more irresponsible.

Why would anyone want to make this worse than it already is?

Contact columnist Chris Anderson at chris.anderson@heraldtribune.com. Please support local journalism by purchasing a digital subscription.