Carbon monoxide poisoning is the illness of the week at SW Regional Medical Center. So far 60 people have been treated there for it since Charley hit, with some fatalities and many, many close calls like this one:
Stacee Young, 24, woke up dizzy and befuddled in her Cape Coral home at 4 a.m. Saturday and knew something was wrong.
She woke up her roommate, Susan Crawford, 27, and they stumbled their way toward the generator, humming loudly inside the women’s garage.
Crawford never made it. She passed out just as she got to the gas-powered machine, collapsing onto the hot metal and sustaining burns that kept her in intensive care for days.
Young, losing consciousness several times, managed to call 911 and save three dogs and two birds before fainting outside in a ditch, her sister, Dana Miller, 29, said.
There have been two additional deaths in North Fort Myers due to Charley and the lack of electricity, with a man dying in a fire caused by candles and another man dying from heat stress.
Hopefully all power will be restored in Lee, with the exception of the islands, by this weekend.
Posted by floridacracker at August 19, 2004 11:57 PMThey keep going on the news here telling people to not put their generators in the house. They are also reminding them not to grill indoors. Some of these should be common sense but I guess people don't want looters stealing their generators.
Posted by: kat at August 20, 2004 10:35 AMYes, that's what they're worried about. The authorities keep saying that if that's what you're worried about, chain the thing up.
The number of cases of carbon monoxide poisoning for ONE WEEK is staggering.