Elderly Fil-Am killed by falling tree in wake of Hurricane Milton

Luisa Santos (left) @WCPO/X (Photo from Wendy Tantozo)

TAMPA, Fla. – An elderly Filipino American operator of an assisted living facility in Tampa, Florida, was killed Thursday when a tree fell on her while cleaning up the facility grounds in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.

Milton, which made a landfall Wednesday as a Category 3, carved a path of destruction across Florida. Trees were uprooted and branches crashed down in the area where the Oakland Manor Assisted Living was located.

Luisa Santos, who was celebrating her 73rd birthday, wanted to clean up before the tree service arrived to keep the facility residents safe.

“She wants to clear all this debris and everything ‘cause we have residents walking around,” Wendy Tantozo, Luisa’s daughter, told WFTS Tampa Bay/ABC Action News.

Tantozo said her mother, who moved to the US from the Philippines 20 years ago, was “so happy” on her birthday, the morning after the hurricane.

“Everybody was greeting her happy birthday in the Philippines. They already greeted her,” she said.

Florida-based Fil-Am community leader Brendan Flores said Santos’ death was devastating.

You may like: How to help people affected by Hurricane Milton

“As a community leader, I can’t help but think about our elders, particularly those in West Florida and across the state,” Flores told Inquirer.net USA correspondent Elton Lugay.

NaFFAA National Chair Brendan Flores/CONTRIBUTED

“Many of them are vulnerable, and this storm has made it clear how much we need to be there for one another.”

Flores, who chairs the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), said the Fil-Am community, like others across the state, is struggling with “not just the physical rebuilding but the emotional weight of these back-to-back disasters.”

“This is a time when the spirit of bayanihan, our tradition of coming together and helping one another, has never been more crucial,” he said. “We will need to rely on that sense of community support to get through this.”