Eye on the Tropics

Winter Park man electrocuted during Hurricane Irma

WINTER PARK, Fla. — Officers with the Winter Park Police Department are investigating a death possibly related to Hurricane Irma.

Brian Paul Buwalda, 51, was electrocuted by a downed power line near his home Monday morning, police said.

Police were called at 7:22 a.m. to the home at Leith and Westchester avenues and found Buwalda laying on the road, investigators said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The medical examiner’s office is investigating the official cause, but it appears electrocution was a factor.

Hurricane Irma caused a lot of wind damage that led to downed trees, power outages and flooding.

An Orange County woman died Sunday night when she crashed her car on State Road 417 at mile marker 5.

Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs said Heidi Zehner, 50, was the first storm-related death.

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