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Ag Commissioner Putnam: Nursing Home Residents "Didn't Have To Die"

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services via wikimedia commons

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam met Thursday with state emergency officials.

Hurricane Irma dealt a blow to the state’s agricultural industries, but Putnam says the death of eight nursing home residents is tragic.

“It is probably going to stand out as the—in the scope and scale and enormity of this disaster—one of the most avoidable tragedies in the overall tragedy,” Putnam says.

“It is sickening to contemplate that they didn’t have to die.”

Damage from Hurricane Irma knocked out the nursing home’s air conditioning.  Thursday afternoon more than 2.3 million accounts had no power.  That’s just shy of one quarter of the state.

Nick Evans came to Tallahassee to pursue a masters in communications at Florida State University. He graduated in 2014, but not before picking up an internship at WFSU. While he worked on his degree Nick moved from intern, to part-timer, to full-time reporter. Before moving to Tallahassee, Nick lived in and around the San Francisco Bay Area for 15 years. He listens to far too many podcasts and is a die-hard 49ers football fan. When Nick’s not at work he likes to cook, play music and read.