Hurricane Irma has claimed five more lives, patients at a Florida nursing home that lost electricity during the storm that brought widespread flooding and power outages over the weekend, authorities said on Wednesday (September 13).

Residents of the hard-hit Florida Keys returned to inspect damaged homes and businesses that were largely without electricity and communications in the wake of the deadly storm.

Categorized as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record when it rampaged through the Caribbean, Irma killed more than 60 people, officials said.

At least 23 people died in Florida and nearby states, and destruction was widespread in the Keys, where Irma made initial U.S. landfall on Sunday and became the second major hurricane to strike the mainland this season.

Two elderly residents were found dead at the Rehabilitation Center of Hollywood Hills and three later died at a hospital, Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief told reporters on Wednesday.

Some residents were evacuated from the facility early Sunday morning and some reportedly awoke sick at the centre, which had been without air conditioning for a few days.