川普将视察佛罗里达灾区

U.S. President Donald Trump travels Thursday to southwestern Florida to get a briefing on recovery efforts from Hurricane Irma and to meet with some of the people impacted by the powerful storm.

Trump's schedule includes stops in Fort Myers and Naples. The center of Irma passed through those areas as it went up the western side of Florida with strong winds, and a combination of heavy rain and storm surge that caused widespread flooding.

He has already declared Florida a major disaster area, a move that speeds up the release of federal relief funds.

Recovery efforts are underway, but officials have cautioned that it will take a long time to repair the damage left by the hurricane that also devastated several Caribbean islands.

Officials are investigating whether a lack of electricity to run air conditioning is to blame for the deaths of eight nursing home patients in Hollywood, Florida.

The deaths were discovered when a hospital across the street from the nursing home began receiving elderly patients suffering from heat exhaustion, which led to all 115 people in the home being evacuated.

Governor Rick Scott has called for a criminal investigation, calling the situation "unfathomable."

The retirement home had apparently been without electricity since the storm struck. It is unclear why generators failed to keep the building cool.

Scott has ordered authorities to check on nursing facilities across Florida.

Elsewhere, France and Britain are promising to boost aid to those hit by the storms in their territories in the Caribbean.

French President Emmanuel Macron visited Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy Wednesday after stopping on Guadeloupe. Macron has acknowledged the angry response some people have to what they see as inadequate help from France. Macron promised more supplies and security forces for the islands.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson toured Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands Wednesday. Irma was a Category 5 storm when it clobbered the islands last week. Johnson said more security forces and "huge quantities of supplies" were coming, and that he expects Prime Minister Theresa May to announce further aid.

The United Nations is airlifting food and other vital relief to the islands of Antigua, St. Martin, and the Turks and Caicos.

The hurricane killed at least 37 people in the Caribbean and devastated the islands, including Barbuda, which has evacuated all of its citizens to Antigua.