Florida residents are returning to their homes, many still without power, while gas shortages and flooding persist three days after Hurricane Milton made landfall in the state as a deadly Category 3 storm.
Milton spawned a frightening number of tornadoes, produced storm surges that flooded coastal and central neighborhoods, and knocked out power to over 5 million homes and businesses — triggering long waits at gas stations.
More than 1.1 million customers remained without power on Saturday night, down from about double that number a day ago, according to PowerOutage.us.
The storm, which arrived as Floridians were still dealing with the devastation from Hurricane Helene, caused at least 16 deaths statewide, the Associated Press reported.
While damage was widespread across the state, residents expressed relief that the storm’s impact wasn’t as significant as initially predicted.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state had avoided the “worst-case scenario.”
“You face two hurricanes in a couple of weeks — not easy to go through — but I’ve seen a lot of resilience throughout this state,” DeSantis said during a briefing in Sarasota on Thursday, adding he was “very confident that this area is going to bounce back very, very quickly.”
Hurricane Milton made landfall in Siesta Key, Florida — about 70 miles south of Tampa — late Wednesday. It came just two weeks after the southeastern U.S. was devastated by Hurricane Helene, a storm that killed more than 200 people.
Power outages trigger gas shortages
People continued to wait in hours-long lines for fuel at gas stations on Saturday, where power outages had cut the electricity that turns on their pumps.
The Tampa area was hit hardest, with 74% of gas stations there without fuel on Friday afternoon, reported the gas price tracker GasBuddy.
DeSantis said Friday the state was stocked with plenty of fuel but that its ample reserves that were stored at ports were not retrieved ahead of the storm, which later complicated delivery challenges.
The state has set up three fuel distribution sites, with plans to open more, DeSantis told reporters Saturday morning. Each resident can pick up 10 gallons of free gas.
“As power gets restored ... and the Port of Tampa is open, you’re going to see the fuel flowing,” DeSantis said. “But in the meantime, we want to give people another option.”
Florida NPR member station WUSF spoke to Autumn Boyd, who had been waiting for two hours at a 7-Eleven station in Temple Terrace just outside Tampa to refill her 3-gallon motorcycle tank.
"I had to use PTO (paid time off) in order to be here,” Boyd said. “And I've just been using my vacation hours to sit in line."
The White House announced Friday that President Biden will visit Florida on Sunday to survey the damage from Milton. In the meantime, FEMA has deployed resources to the region to aid with rescue and response operations. More than 15 million meals and 13 million liters of water have been sent to the state, the White House said in an afternoon press briefing, with an additional 20 million meals and 40 million liters of water ready to be deployed.
On Saturday, Biden approved additional FEMA assistance to go to residents and businesses in 34 counties affected by Milton.
"Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster," the White House announcement said.
Costly damage
Kevin Giordano, who’s lived in South Daytona for 30 years, had just finished renovating his home before Milton filled it with 12 inches of flood water.
“So now it's time to just let it all drain out, and then rip it apart again and rebuild it,” Giordano told Central Florida Public Media.
He said the back-to-back hurricane-driven floods were the worst flooding he'd experienced in at least the past two decades.
Moody’s Analytics said it expected the storm’s economic costs to total $50 billion to $85 billion, including up to $70 billion in property damage and an economic output loss of up to $15 billion.
Death toll climbs in central Florida
Five people were killed in a St. Lucie County tornado, and two people died in St. Petersburg, Central Florida Public Media reported.
In Volusia County, which saw wind gusts as high as 87 mph and more than 15 inches of rain, four people were killed, at least two of whom died from falling trees, said Emergency Management Director Clint Mecham. Across the county, at least 170 people were rescued from floodwaters, he said, and 400 people remain in shelters.
An additional death, a man in his 60s who appeared to have stepped on a downed power line while clearing yard debris, is under investigation in Orange County.
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