The number of deaths caused by Hurricane Milton increased this Friday from 11 to at least 16, Florida authorities reported, as residents begin the process of rebuilding their lives and homes.
Nearly 2.5 million homes and businesses remain without power and some storm-ravaged areas between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean remain flooded.
Milton reached Florida’s Gulf Coast Wednesday night as a Category 3 storm, with winds that hit communities still recovering from Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, which killed 237 people in the southeastern United States, including Florida.
The Milton-related tornadoes appear to have caused more deaths than the flooding.
On the other hand, a study by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) network released this Friday concluded that the rains that accompanied Milton were between 20% and 30% more intense due to the climate changeand the winds were 10% more intense.
Scary
“It was very scary,” said Susan Stepp, a 70-year-old resident of Fort Pierce, a city on Florida’s Atlantic coast where four people died in a Milton tornado.
“They found some dead people outside, in a tree,” he told AFP. “They should have withdrawn.”
Stepp’s husband, Bill, said a tornado threw their 22-ton trailer “across the yard.”
“It’s scary and heartbreaking at the same time to see so much damage and all the things you really love disappear, but they’re just things and we’re still here,” said the 72-year-old.
At least six people have died in St. Lucie Countyfour in Volusia County, two in Pinellas County and one each in Hillsborough, Polk, Orange and Citrus counties, local officials said.
The storm downed power lines, tore off the roof of Tampa’s baseball stadium and flooded homes, but Florida managed to avoid the level of catastrophic devastation that authorities feared.
“The storm was significant, but fortunately this was not a worst-case scenario,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference.
The National Weather Service issued 126 tornado warnings statewide on Wednesday, the most issued in a single day for the state in records dating back to 1986, hurricane expert Michael Lowry wrote.
“It’s not easy to think you have everything and suddenly you have nothing,” said Lidier Rodríguez, who was forced to leave his flooded apartment near Tampa Bay.
Search operations continued Friday and the Coast Guard reported the spectacular rescue of a boat captain who weathered the storm by clinging to a cooler in the Gulf of Mexico.
“This man survived a nightmare scenario for even the most experienced mariner,” Dana Grady, head of the U.S. Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg command center, said in a statement.
Electoral use
On Thursday, President Joe Biden urged people to stay home after the storm, as downed power lines and debris created dangerous conditions.
In a video posted on social media, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he and his wife Melania were praying for Floridians affected by the storm and asked them to vote for him.
Hurricane Helene hit Florida late last month and the successive storms have become an election issue.
Trump spread conspiracy theories that Biden and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris are abandoning victims and diverting aid intended for them.
“Do something useful with your life,” Biden responded on Thursday.
