Oct. 10 (UPI) — State and local officials in Florida on Thursday confirmed 12 deaths have been attributed to Hurricane Milton so far as massive clean-up and assessment efforts got underway less than 24 hours after the storm made landfall.
The storm cut an uneven path of damage as it tore diagonally across the state from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean and left a trail of death and destruction in its path.
Half of the 12 reported fatalities came in St. Lucie County on the eastern side of the state, opposite from where the hurricane made landfall as a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph.
The victims died when a tornado smashed through Spanish Lake Country Club Village, a senior modular homes community in St. Lucie County, Sheriff Keith Pearson said in an update with Gov. Ron DeSantis and state emergency officials at Fort Pierce, Fla.
Tornadoes were also reported in Palm Beach and Martin counties on Wednesday.
“This is like nothing we’ve seen,” Pearson said, confirming that the 12 tornadoes hit within a hectic 20-minute span in the country. Two people died in one mobile home that was crushed from one of the tornadoes.
Search-and-rescue crews went door-to-door in the seniors community as Milton approached, and more than 100 people from the Florida Highway Patrol, Florida National Guard and Fish & Wildlife resumed searching after the hurricane had passed.
Two storm-related deaths were confirmed in Volusia County, northeast of Orlando, both identified as women who were hit by falling trees in separate incidents, Sheriff Michael Chitwood told reporters.
Another pair of deaths attributed to Milton were reported Thursday by St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway, while one death each were confirmed in central Florida’s Polk County and in Citrus County, north of Tampa.
DeSantis said the Tampa-St. Petersburg area looks to have avoided a massive storm surge as was previously feared, although heavy flooding was seen along the barrier islands on the coast along with significant wind damage farther east as Milton made its way across the Florida peninsula.
Emergency responders “have been working 24/7, particularly on the west coast of Florida,” the governor said. “There have been dozens of rescues … My sense is that will stabilize and we’ll probably be on a pretty good footing, if we’re not already.”
According to the website PowerOutage.us, 2.63 million homes remained without power in Florida as of Thursday night, including 501,000 in Tampa’s Hillsborough County and 394,000 in St. Petersburg’s Pinellas County. In Sarasota, where the storm made landfall, 164,000 were without power. In Lee County, where Fort Myers is located, 196,000 were in the dark.
As the day progressed and new scenes of devastation were revealed, early estimates by insurers put the level of damages in the state at up to $50 billion — well less than a worst-case scenario. Its hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 35 miles from its center, and tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 205 miles.
In one of most visible examples, Milton completely ripped the fabric roof off of Tropicana Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays.
“During the past couple of weeks, our beloved city, region and state have been impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton,” the club said in a statement. “We are devastated by the damage incurred by so many Our priority is supporting our community and our staff. We are fortunate and grateful that no one was hurt by the damage to our ballpark last night.
“Over the coming days and weeks, we expect to be able to assess the true condition of Tropicana Field. In the meantime, we are working with law enforcement to secure the building.”
Elsewhere in the Tampa Bay area, a construction crane toppled onto an office building in downtown St. Petersburg, leaving a gaping hole in the structure, which houses the Tampa Bay Times and other businesses.
“While we were spared the brunt of the storm surge, we still have serious issues we’re working to address,” St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said during a briefing, noting the city got 18 inches of rain and sustained damage to its drinking water and power systems.
“We’re working to restore those systems as quickly as we can,” he said.
A boil water notice has been issued in St. Petersburg as nearly 400,000 homes and business remained without power in Pinellas County.
In Brevard County on Florida’s Atlantic coast, local police said that six to eight buildings in a shopping plaza sustained moderate to major roof damage and that some residents were displaced by home damage, Florida Today reported.
In Washington, D.C., President Joe Biden delivered his first statements in the aftermath of the storm, promising that federal aid is on the way and urging Congress to return to approve disaster funding for the Small Business Administration.
“This is going to be a long haul for total rebuilding,” he said. “It’s going to take several billion dollars. It’s not just going to be a little bit. But we’re fighting now to make sure people have the emergency relief they need.”
Biden again denounced what he called “lies” by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has falsely characterized the $750 one-time payments going to disaster survivors from the Federal Emergency Management Agency as “loans” or as the only assistance available to victims.
“The dollars just to be able to get a prescription filled, to get a baby formula done … that $750 that they’re talking about,” he said. “Mr. Trump and all those other people know it’s a lie to suggest that’s all they’re going to get. That’s bizarre. It’s bizarre. They’ve got to stop this. I mean, they’re being so damn un-American with the way they’re talking about this stuff.”
The misinformation has resulted in death threats aimed at disaster relief workers, he said, adding: “These lies are also harmful to those who most need help. Lives are on the line. People are in desperate situations. Have the decency to tell them the truth.”
Biden said he and DeSantis discussed Milton in a phone conversation on Thursday and indicated he has begun getting “direct assessments” of the storm of FEMA and Director Deanne Criswell.
The federal response includes a significant military component, the president said.
“At my direction, Defense Secretary [Lloyd] Austin has provided a range of capabilities both to Florida for Hurricane Milton as well as the states impacted by Hurricane Helene,” he said. “And the more capabilities are available, we assess the pressing needs, we can get whatever they need.”
Parts of the state, including some barrier islands, were still recovering from Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, which swamped inland communities with surge from rivers, creeks and copious rainfall when Milton came ashore and did more damage.
