HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Gov. Rick Scott directed the Agency for Health Care Administration to issue an emergency moratorium Wednesday for the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, where eight people died after an air-conditioning issue that forced evacuations from the nursing home. 
 
 All patients have been removed from the rehabilitation center, and the moratorium immediately prevents the facility from admitting any patients until the order is lifted. 
 
 The shutdown is necessary to protect the lives and the safety of frail elders, according to a news release from the AHCA. 
 
 Earlier in the day, Scott made it clear that he is demanding answers on the facility. He previously ordered the AHCA and the Department of Children and Families to investigate the facility. 
 
 It was shortly after 4 a.m. Wednesday when paramedics and fire-rescue crews were called to the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills. 
 
 "The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills has evacuated this morning due to a prolonged power failure to the transformer which powered the facility's air conditioning system as a result of the hurricane," nursing home administrator Jorge Carballo said in a statement. 
 
 Hollywood police Chief Tomas Sanchez confirmed that eight people had died and 115 patients were evacuated from the center. 
 
 "We're conducting a criminal investigation into the deaths that occurred here," Sanchez said. 
 
 Several residents from the center could be seen sitting on wheelchairs outside the nursing home, next to the hospital. 
 
 An adjacent building, Larkin Community Hospital, was also evacuated. Eighteen patients there were relocated as a result of the investigation. 
 
 The victims who died have been identified as Bobby Owens, 84; Manuel Mario Medieta, 96; Miguel Antonio Franco, 92; Estella Hendricks, 71; Gail Nova, 71; Carolyn Eatherly, 78; Betty Hibbard, 84; and Albertina Vega, 99. 
 
 The causes of death have yet to be determined. 
 
 Carballo said three of the eight patients died at the facility and the others died at the hospital they were taken to. 
 
 "Facility administration is cooperating fully with relevant authorities to investigate the circumstances that led to this unfortunate and tragic outcome. Our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who were affected," Carballo said. 
 
 Local 10 News reporter Jenise Fernandez spoke to the man who has been trying to repair the AC. Airstron employee Dave Long said that a fuse needed to cool the AC unit popped out during Hurricane Irma and needs to be repaired. He said he's been calling Florida Power & Light for days to get it fixed. 
 
 "There's nothing we can do," Airstron employee Dave Long told Local 10 News. "We've been calling and calling." 
 
 "There's nothing we can do," Long said. "We've been calling and calling. ... It just doesn't seem to be going anywhere, and I can't do anything until we get that fuse popped back in." 
 
 Long described the ordeal as "frustrating." 
 
 He said it would only take about 30 minutes once the fuse is fixed for the AC to be restored. 
 
 "Well, I came here after the storm on Monday and we saw the fuse was out, but we called at that time and now it's, what, Wednesday, and the fuse is still out and I can't do anything," Long said. 
 
 All the patients were taken to area hospitals, including Memorial Regional Hospital. 
 
 "We don't have specific numbers on the conditions of each of the patients involved," city spokeswoman Raelin Storey said. 
 
 Dr. Randy Katz, the medical director at Memorial Regional Hospital, said his staff "quickly identified some issues inside of the facility." 
 
 "Most of the patients have been treated for respiratory distress, dehydration and heat-related issues," Katz said. 
 
 Katz said at least a dozen other patients were in emergency care. He said the death toll could rise. 
 
 Family members rushed to the hospitals after finding out where their loved ones were taken. 
 
 One woman who spoke to reporters said she had been calling FPL and the facility for days on behalf of her mother to find out when the AC would be restored. 
 
 "I kept calling," the woman said. "And I said, 'This is life-threatening.'" 
 
 The woman said helping restore nursing homes to their standard conditions should be a top priority after a hurricane. 
 
 Rob Gould, vice president and chief communications officer for FPL, said the utility company met with Broward County officials in March to identify "top-tier critical infrastructure" facilities in the event of a massive power outage. He said the nursing home was not identified as such. 
 
 Rob Gould, vice president and chief communications officer for FPL, says the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills was not listed as one of Broward County's top-tier critical infrastructure facilities. 
 
 "We do know that facilities such as Memorial Regional Hospital across the street, which was with power, is listed as a top-tier critical infrastructure facility," Gould said. 
 
 Gould said parts of the facility were energized by FPL. He said the tragedy points to the need to have a plan in place when it comes to emergency preparation. 
 
 "I am going to aggressively demand answers on how this tragic event took place," Scott said in a statement earlier Wednesday. "Although the details of these reported deaths are still under investigation, this situation is unfathomable." 
 
 Scott said if the investigation uncovers "that anyone wasn't acting in the best interests of their patients, we will hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law." 
 
 Numerous assisted living facilities were evaluated throughout South Florida after the incident, including the Bayview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in North Miami Beach, where more than 100 patients were evaluated. 
 
 The facility also did not have working AC, and the residents were all moved to other locations via buses and trolleys. 
 
 A city spokeswoman said in a news release that Hollywood police officers conducted welfare checks on 42 nursing homes, assisted living and critical care facilities throughout the day. 
 
 Memorial Healthcare Systems has established a hotline for families of the patients who were taken to its facilities for care. The number is 954-265-1074. 
 
 Copyright 2017 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved. ||||| At least eight elderly people died in a sweltering South Florida nursing home after it apparently lost its air conditioning amid ongoing, widespread power outages related to Hurricane Irma. 
 
 The deaths, which prompted a criminal investigation Wednesday, were what many feared might happen after Irma knocked out power for millions of people in Florida, a state known for its omnipresent heat. Without the respite of air conditioning, the heat poses a particular threat to Florida’s large population of elderly residents, who are more susceptible to heat-related illnesses. 
 
 In Hollywood, Fla., where temperatures are forecast to reach the 90s through the end of the week, authorities were called early Wednesday to the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, a nursing home not far from Fort Lauderdale with a troubled history. 
 
 What they found was gruesome: Three people inside already were dead, while other patients were in “varying degrees of medical distress,” city officials said. At least five were pronounced dead later, while dozens of the home’s residents were spirited from the stifling building to local hospitals, including Memorial Regional Hospital just down the street. 
 
 [ After Irma, Florida prepares for days — and maybe weeks — without power ] 
 
 Those who died — five women and three men — were between the ages of 71 and 99. 
 
 “We believe at this time it may be related to the loss of power in the storm,” Tomas Sanchez, the Hollywood police chief, said at a news briefing Wednesday. “It’s a sad event.” 
 
 Police later said they are working to determine what caused the tragedy, but early indications pointed at the air conditioning in the facility. 
 
 “The initial investigation has determined that the facility’s air conditioning system was not fully functional,” Hollywood city officials said in a statement Wednesday evening. “Portable [air-conditioning] units were being used in the facility, but the facility was excessively hot.” 
 
 The first call came in to firefighters at 3 a.m. Wednesday, about a patient believed to be in cardiac arrest, officials said. Firefighters returned to the facility an hour later for a patient with breathing problems, and they then called a state agency with concerns about the facility. When a third call for help came in, more Hollywood Fire Rescue crews were dispatched, and they were joined by Memorial Regional Hospital staff. 
 
 “There was no air conditioning,” said Randy Katz, chairman of the department of emergency medicine at Memorial. “The temperatures, particularly on the second floor, were extremely hot.” 
 
 Ellie Pina, whose 96-year-old mother Mirelle is a resident at the center, said the facility had been running on generators since the power went out on Sunday while Hurricane Irma swept through Florida. Pina said she and others repeatedly called Florida Power and Light about the lack of electricity and were ignored. 
 
 “I told Florida Power and Light the generators were going to give up soon. And it happened,” said Pina, reciting her ticket number, which recorded her seeking help. “I told my husband people were going to die in there. And it happened.” 
 
 Florida Power and Light, which said Wednesday it serviced part of the facility, said it extended its sympathies to those who lost loved ones and was limited in what it could say because of the investigation. 
 
 Robert Gould, chief communications officer for Florida Power and Light, the state’s largest utility, said during a briefing Wednesday that Broward County did not list the Hollywood facility as critical infrastructure in a hurricane planning meeting earlier this year. Such locations are prioritized for power restoration after a storm because of the services they provide to vulnerable people. 
 
 [ Heat illness is the next big threat for millions without power in Florida ] 
 
 Broward County said in a statement Wednesday that it selected critical infrastructure based on a Florida Power and Light guidance document. Going by this document, the county said, nursing homes were deemed “non-critical.” 
 
 On Tuesday, the county said, the nursing home contacted Broward officials to say it had lost power, information the county said it reported to the power company. The nursing home reported later Tuesday that a tree was on a transformer, Broward said, information that was also relayed to the utility. 
 
 “Hollywood Hills, when asked if they had any medical needs or emergencies, did not request assistance or indicate any medical emergency existed,” Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief said in the statement. 
 
 Pina said the nursing home’s staff set up portable air conditioners and put patients, clothed in as little as possible, in the hallways close to the cooling units. She was there Monday and Tuesday around noon and said it was extremely hot. 
 
 “They were trying to help the people,” she said of the staff, which she said kept calling the utility for help. Pina said she and others also called 911 and received no response. A spokeswoman for the Hollywood police declined to comment beyond a statement the city had released outlining what had happened at the nursing home. 
 
 On Wednesday morning, Pina said, she was told by a staffer that “the generators gave up.” 
 
 Pina said her mother is hospitalized but doing well. She is among the more than 150 patients taken from the facility to one of the hospitals in Memorial’s system. Katz said they were treated mainly for dehydration, respiratory issues including respiratory failure, heat exhaustion and high fevers. 
 
 “There’s no reason patients that age with chronic medical issues should be in a facility without air conditioning,” Katz said. 
 
 Federal requirements state that nursing homes must have written, detailed plans and procedures for emergencies and disasters such as severe weather. Kristen Knapp, spokeswoman for the Florida Health Care Association, said hundreds of facilities for the elderly have relied upon backup systems since Irma passed over the state Sunday. 
 
 “Throughout this whole process, we haven’t heard of any affected nursing homes operating without a generator,” Knapp wrote in an email. 
 
 [ After Irma, a once-lush gem in the U.S. Virgin Islands reduced to battered wasteland ] 
 
 While Hurricane Irma did not fulfill the most dire forecasts, the storm still managed to wreak enduring havoc across all of Florida. After lashing the state and parts of the Southeast with rain and wind, power outages remained as the chief concerns. Power companies had restored power to millions, but about 3.5 million power company customer accounts in Florida — or one in 3 statewide — still lacked electricity on Wednesday. Utilities have warned it could be days or weeks before the lights come back on in some places. 
 
 This presents a particular risk in Florida, where about 1 in 5 residents are 65 or older. People in that age range are more prone to heat-related health problems because they do not adjust as well as younger people to sudden shifts in temperature, are more likely to have chronic medical conditions and often take medications that impact the body’s ability to regulate its temperature, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
 
 “The elderly and the young are more susceptible to getting dehydration from the heat,” said David Gifford, senior vice president of the American Health Care Association. “Keeping them well hydrated is important and keeping them as cool as possible.” 
 
 The Florida association, which represents more than 4 in 5 nursing homes in the state — it does not represent the Hollywood facility — said about 150 out of nearly 700 facilities in the state did not have full power services restored as of Wednesday. 
 
 “As with millions of other Floridians, our centers are coping with the loss of power and infrastructure in the communities that were most affected by the devastation,” the association said in a statement. 
 
 Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), a former hospital chief executive, called the situation at the Hollywood nursing home “unfathomable.” 
 
 “I am going to aggressively demand answers on how this tragic event took place,” Scott said in a statement. “Every facility that is charged with caring for patients must take every action and precaution to keep their patients safe — especially patients that are in poor health.” 
 
 Scott said he directed two state agencies — the Department of Children and Families and the Agency for Health Care Administration — to work with local authorities on the investigation, and he warned that “if they find that anyone wasn’t acting in the best interests of their patients, we will hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.” 
 
 According to Scott’s office, the facility had reported as recently as Tuesday afternoon that they had power and access to fans and spot coolers. 
 
 The facility’s administrator, Jorge Carballo, said in a statement sent to media outlets that the center had evacuated “due to a prolonged power failure to the transformer which powered the facility’s air conditioning system as a result of the hurricane.” Carballo did not respond to The Washington Post’s requests for comment. 
 
 The facility has a history of citations, and it is rated “below average” on the Medicare website. Federal records, court documents and state inspection reports show the facility’s owners and managers had lurched from one problem to another during the past decade, including a federal bankruptcy, allegations of fraud, complaints from residents and repeated documentation of poor care and unsafe conditions. 
 
 
 
 Brian Baker cuts up a fallen oak tree after Hurricane Irma passed through the area in Valrico, Fla. (Chris O’Meara/AP) 
 
 State inspectors last year found patients who had been left in their night gowns, facing televisions that had been turned off. Others were unshaven and had untrimmed nails, including a man with blackened, jagged nails who had scratched himself raw. 
 
 “The facility failed to ensure residents were treated with dignity with respect for their individuality and preferences,” the report found, saying inspectors observed a “failure to address residents in a respectful manner.” 
 
 State reports show violations were recorded on 23 visits to the facility since 2010, with the violations in several reports describing systemic mistreatment. Safety also was a repeated concern. Smoke alarms, emergency exits and the nursing home’s emergency generator were cited for deficiencies. 
 
 In February 2016, an inspector wrote that the facility failed to maintain its emergency generator to manufacturer and code requirements — and that it wasn’t the first time. More recently, in May, another state official who visited the facility wrote that he found no problems. “All previously cited Fire & Life Safety deficiencies were corrected” and no new deficiencies were found, he wrote. 
 
 Those who died at the nursing home in South Florida were part of a death toll that, while relatively low compared to other massive storms, has slowly climbed in recent days. 
 
 In Monroe County, which includes the Florida Keys, authorities have begun letting residents trickle in, though that region — where Irma made landfall early Sunday morning — was still assessing the storm’s toll. 
 
 “Contrary to reports, no comprehensive assessments have been done to accurately determine percentage of damage or dollar figures,” Monroe County said in a statement Wednesday. 
 
 Scott Unger in Key West, Fla., Leonard Shapiro in Fort Lauderdale, Lori Rozsa in Gainesville, Fla. and Wesley Lowery, Julie Tate and Alice Crites in Washington contributed to this report, which has been updated throughout the day. 
 
 1 of 71 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × The Aftermath: Residents assess damage in the wake of Hurricane Irma View Photos The full extent of the damage caused by Irma, which destroyed homes and cut off power for many, is being determined. Caption The full extent of the damage caused by Irma, which destroyed homes and cut off power for many, is being determined. Spencer Platt Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 Further reading: 
 
 As Florida recovers from Irma, Jacksonville has historic flooding — and might get more 
 
 Why the storm surge forecast for Irma wasn’t so bad, just incomplete 
 
 A Marriott rescue ship left stranded tourists behind because they weren’t guests of the hotel ||||| (In Sept. 13 item, updates to correct spelling of the last name of Michael Beason from Benson, in 19th paragraph and throughout) 
 
 By Andrew Innerarity and Ricardo Ortiz 
 
 HOLLYWOOD, Fla./SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott vowed on Wednesday that the state would aggressively investigate how six people died at a nursing home that lost power when Hurricane Irma rampaged through the region, as millions coped with another day without electricity. 
 
 The death toll from the storm approached 80 as officials continued to assess the damage after Irma powered through the Caribbean as one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record and slammed into the Florida Keys archipelago with sustained winds of up to 130 miles per hour (215 km per hour). 
 
 Irma killed at least 36 people in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, according to officials. Some 4.2 million homes and businesses, or about 9 million people, were without power on Wednesday in Florida and nearby states. 
 
 Police opened a criminal investigation at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills in Hollywood, north of Miami, where three elderly residents were found dead at the facility and three later died at a nearby hospital, officials said. 
 
 “I am going to work to aggressively demand answers on how this tragic event took place,” Scott said in a statement. “This situation is unfathomable. Every facility that is charged with caring for patients must take every action and precaution to keep their patients safe.” 
 
 More than 100 patients at the nursing home were evacuated on Wednesday along with 18 patients from a nearby facility that was cleared due to the criminal investigation, Hollywood officials said. 
 
 “Most of the patients have been treated for respiratory distress, dehydration and heat-related issues,” Randy Katz, a spokesman for Memorial Regional Hospital, told reporters. Memorial Regional is located across the street from the nursing home. 
 
 Police were first called to the facility at about 4:30 a.m. but did not arrive until after 6 a.m., officials said. 
 
 The center had been without air conditioning, Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief told reporters on Wednesday. 
 
 “The building has been sealed off and we are conducting a criminal investigation inside,” Hollywood Police Chief Tomas Sanchez told reporters on Wednesday. “It was very hot on the second floor.” 
 
 Florida Power & Light said it had provided power to some parts of the Hollywood nursing home but that the facility was not on a county top tier list for emergency power restoration. 
 
 The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills is pictured in Hollywood, Florida, U.S., September 13, 2017. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri 
 
 NEW DAMAGE ESTIMATES 
 
 Irma caused about $25 billion in insured losses, including $18 billion in the United States and $7 billion in the Caribbean, catastrophe modeler Karen Clark & Co estimated on Wednesday. 
 
 The Florida Keys were particularly hard hit, with federal officials saying that 25 percent of homes were destroyed and 65 percent suffered major damage when Irma barreled ashore on Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane. 
 
 Most residents had left by then and police have barred re-entry to most of the Keys to allow more time to restore electricity and medical service and bring water, food and fuel. 
 
 Slideshow (13 Images) 
 
 “I don’t have a house. I don’t have a job. I have nothing,” said Mercedes Lopez, 50, whose family fled north from the Keys town of Marathon on Friday and rode out the storm at an Orlando hotel, only to learn their home was destroyed, along with the gasoline station where Lopez worked. 
 
 President Donald Trump is due to visit the region on Thursday. 
 
 ‘EVERYTHING IS GONE’ 
 
 Irma wreaked total devastation in parts of the Caribbean, where at least 43 people have died. 
 
 People who fled their homes in hard-hit islands including St. Martin and the U.S. Virgin Islands that were all but cut off from the world for days arrived in San Juan late Tuesday. 
 
 Michael Beason, 65, of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, said he lost everything. 
 
 “My house, my business, both my vehicles, everything is gone,” said Beason, who was stopping in San Juan before continuing to Boston to seek refuge with his wife’s brother. 
 
 “But we have life. We rode out that horrible storm in a shower that I had reinforced after Hurricane Marilyn,” Beason added. “I told the man (who installed the shower), I told him, ‘If the hurricane takes the rest of my house, I want this shower sticking up out of that slab like the last tooth in the mouth of a bum. And sure enough that’s what’s left.” 
 
 Irma hit the United States about two weeks after Hurricane Harvey plowed into Houston, killing about 60 and causing some $180 billion in damage, mostly from flooding.
– Six people died after losing air conditioning at a Florida nursing home whose power was knocked out by Hurricane Irma, Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief confirmed in a press conference Wednesday. Sharief said three people died at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills and two more were declared dead at a hospital, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports. A sixth death was announced in a press release later Wednesday morning. It may have all been due to extreme temperatures at the facility, though the causes of death haven't yet been officially determined. A police rep simply said "a number of people" were "in respiratory distress" at the facility; 115 people were evacuated from it. More on the deaths and other Irma-related news: Hollywood Police Chief Tom Sanchez says precautionary checks are being performed at the other nursing homes in the area, the Miami Herald reports. Sanchez says a criminal investigation into the deaths has been opened. The Airstron employee who had been trying to fix the AC unit tells Local 10 that a fuse needed to cool the unit popped out during the hurricane. He says he's been trying to repair the facility's unit for days, but Florida Power & Light (FPL) has yet to fix the fuse for him despite his phone calls. The Washington Post reports a rep for FPL noted the county didn't designate the facility as "top critical"—meaning a place given priority attention—during a 2017 hurricane planning meeting. The Post separately reported that as of Wednesday morning some 40% of the state was still without power, and that some may not see it for as long as weeks. The mayor of Naples, Fla., put it bluntly: "The biggest issue is power. It’s 92 degrees and the sun is out and it’s smoking out there.” FPL's best estimate at this point for when power will be restored to those along the state's west coast: Sept. 22. Carbon monoxide is also an issue in the wake of the storm: The Los Angeles Times reports that at least five people have died and more than a dozen others have been treated after breathing carbon monoxide fumes from generators.