Hurricane Irma

A dozen patients' deaths were ruled homicides. They died after Irma knocked out power to the air conditioning system at the South Florida center in 2017.

WTJX's radio and television studios in St. Thomas were destroyed by Hurricane Irma. As they rebuild, station officials want enough redundancies in the system to prevent future outages.

Hurricanes, fires and even hail contributed to billions of dollars in damages. The government study also finds that it was among the warmest years on record.

"You don't realize until you lose electricity that [it] basically runs your life," says one resident who is most worried about the oppressive heat. "It's like living in the 1700s."

For financially vulnerable college students, a natural disaster could knock them off the graduation track. But colleges can help.

In the U.S. and British territories, residents tell of winds that could rattle your bones — and of an aftermath like a "war zone." Here are portraits of the devastation, in the survivors' own words.

Police in Hollywood, Fla., confirmed they are investigating the deaths. The facility may have been without air conditioning following the storm, according to multiple news reports.

When downed trees blocked the road near Sister Margaret Ann's school in southwest Miami-Dade County, she grabbed a chainsaw and got to work.

During a storm evacuation, residents of Fort Myers, Fla., have to figure out where to go. Except for 91-year-old Dorothea Brown. She knows exactly where she'll be.

Many are without power or phone service. Their ability to reopen depends on the restoration of electricity, but also on whether employees can get to work through blocked roads and downed power lines.