Streets flooded with debris from Hurricane Milton in Siesta Key, Florida, where the storm made landfall.
Florida officials announced Friday that the death toll from Hurricane Milton had risen to at least 16 as residents began the painful process of putting their lives and homes back together.
Nearly 2.5 million homes and businesses are still without power, and some areas remain flooded along the path the monster storm tore through the Sunshine State from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean.
Milton crashed into Florida’s Gulf Coast late Wednesday as a Category 3 storm, bringing strong winds to communities still feeling the effects of Hurricane Helen, which killed 237 people in the southeastern United States, including Florida, two weeks ago.
But so far, many of the deaths from the storm appear to be caused by tornadoes, not flooding.
“It was pretty scary,” said Susan Stepp, 70, a resident of Fort Pierce, a city on Florida’s Atlantic coast where four people were killed in Milton’s tornado.
“They found some people dead in a tree right outside,” she told AFP. “I wish they would have evacuated.”
Stepp’s husband, Bill, said the tornado “flipped my 22-ton motorhome and threw it across the yard.”
“It’s scary and heartbreaking at the same time to see so much damage done and everything you really love gone. But it’s just stuff and we’re still here.”72 the old man said.
A drone image of the Tropicana Field dome torn apart by Hurricane Milton on October 10, 2024 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
At least six people have died in St. Lucie County, four 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 avoided the level of catastrophic damage that officials had feared.
“The storm was severe, but fortunately it was not a worst-case scenario,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference.
The National Weather Service issued 126 tornado warnings in the state Wednesday, the most in a single calendar day in the state since 1986, said hurricane expert Michael Rowley. I’m writing.
“It’s not easy when you think you have everything and suddenly you have nothing,” said Lydier Rodriguez, who was forced to move out of his flooded apartment near Tampa Bay.
Reports of tornadoes from 12:00 GMT on October 9th to 11:59 am on October 10th, according to the National Storm Prediction Center, and a map showing the path of Hurricane Milton from the National Hurricane Center.
“Let’s get a life”
Search efforts continued Friday, with the Coast Guard reporting the successful rescue of a ship’s captain who survived the storm by clinging to a cooler in the Gulf of Mexico.
“This man survived a nightmare scenario for even the most experienced sailor,” Dana Grady, director of the U.S. Coast Guard St. Petersburg Command Center, said in a statement.
President Joe Biden on Thursday urged people to stay indoors as downed power lines and debris in the storm’s aftermath create dangerous conditions.
In a video posted on social media, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he and his wife, Melania Trump, were praying for Floridians affected by the storm and urged everyone to vote for him.
“Hopefully on January 20th, there will be someone who will really help you and help you like never before,” the former president said, referring to Inauguration Day.
A video taken from footage released by the U.S. Coast Guard on October 11, 2024 shows a Coast Guard Air Station Miami helicopter crew rescuing a man off the coast of Longboat Key, Florida, hit by Hurricane Milton. The situation is reflected.
A woman collects debris from a hurricane-induced tornado in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
Hurricane Helen hit Florida late last month, and the back-to-back storms became election fodder as President Trump spread conspiracy theories claiming that Biden and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris were abandoning the victims. It becomes.
Biden fired back at Trump on Thursday by telling him to “save lives.”
“Morning call”
Scientists say extreme rainfall and destructive storms are becoming more severe and frequent as temperatures rise due to climate change.
Warmer ocean surfaces release more water vapor, providing more energy for storms to form.
“There’s no question that this needs to be a serious wake-up call for everyone when it comes to climate change,” Christine Joyce, a 72-year-old interior designer, told AFP as she surveyed the damage in Sarasota Bay. Ta.
© 2024 AFP
Source: Hurricane Milton, Florida cleanup kills at least 16 people (October 11, 2024) From https://phys.org/news/2024-10-hurricane-milton-dead-florida.html 10/2024 Retrieved on March 11th
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