2 more deaths from heat attributed to Ida in Louisiana

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Two deaths in the Baton Rouge area have now been attributed to Hurricane Ida, the Louisiana Health Department said Monday.

That raises the state’s death toll from the storm to 28. Ida came ashore in Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane on Aug. 29.

The Health Department said on its Twitter page that the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office reported the deaths of a 69-year-old man and an 85-year-old woman, both from excessive heat during an extended power outage.

The department said 12 of the 28 Ida-related deaths in Louisiana were caused by heat.

The coroner’s office said in response to an email query that the 69-year-old man died on Sept. 6.

Coroner investigator Shane Evans said the office was still reviewing records and trying to communicate with family members of the 85-year-old woman and could give no more details.