At least 10 dead in Florida, but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared

At least 10 people died when Hurricane Milton sent tornadoes across Florida, officials said Thursday (Oct. 11, 2024), as the state grappled with flooding, power outages and other problems from a milder-than-expected storm that left many had feared that it would fail catastrophically.

The hurricane struck the state late Wednesday before raging into the Atlantic Ocean, leaving roads blocked by downed trees and power lines. It tore through the roof of a baseball stadium in Tampa. Around three million households and businesses were without power.

However, so far it appeared that tornadoes, not flooding, were responsible for the storm’s fatalities.

“It was pretty scary,” said Susan Stepp, a 70-year-old resident of Fort Pierce, a city on Florida’s east coast where four people died in a senior living community after a Milton-triggered tornado struck on Wednesday (Oct. 9).

“They actually found a couple of dead people out in a tree,” she said AFP. “I wish they had evacuated.”

Also Read: Hurricane Helene Death Toll Reaches 200 as Crews Try to Reach Remote Areas Affected by the Storm

According to local authorities, there were five deaths in St. Lucie County, three in Volusia County and two in the city of St. Petersburg. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters the deaths were due to the tornadoes.

In Polk County, a road crew member was struck and killed by a colleague’s vehicle while clearing a fallen tree.

Her husband, Bill, said a tornado “picked up my 22-ton RV and threw it across the yard.”

“Scary and heartbreaking at the same time, seeing a lot of damage and everything you really love just gone, but they’re just things and we’re still here,” the 72-year-old said.

The southeastern US state avoided the level of catastrophic devastation that authorities had feared.

“The storm was significant, but fortunately this was not the worst-case scenario,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference.

Milton made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast as a severe Category 3 storm. Strong winds devastated communities still reeling from Hurricane Helene, which struck just two weeks ago and killed 237 people in Florida and other southeastern states.

The National Weather Service issued 126 tornado warnings across the state on Wednesday, the most ever issued for a single calendar day for the state in records dating back to 1986, wrote hurricane expert Michael Lowry.

As of Thursday evening, rescue operations continued as workers evacuated residents stranded by flooding in the Clearwater near Tampa.

“We don’t know if we can come back,” Justino Torres, 58, told AFP shortly after emergency services evacuated him from a building.

“I will put it in the hands of God.”

In nearby Sarasota Bay, Kristin Joyce, a 72-year-old interior designer who also did not evacuate, took photos of tree branches torn down by the wind.

“There is no doubt that it needs to be a serious wake-up call for everyone when it comes to climate change,” she said, referring to the damage.

Scientists say extreme rainfall and destructive storms are becoming more severe and frequent as temperatures rise due to climate change. Because warmer ocean surfaces release more water vapor, they provide more energy to form storms.

Biden’s anger at Trump

President Joe Biden, who said he spoke with DeSantis on Thursday, urged people to stay indoors after the storm as downed power lines and debris create dangerous conditions.

In a video posted on social media, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he and his wife Melania were praying for Florida residents affected by the storm and urged them to vote for him.

“Hopefully on January 20th you have someone who will really help you and help you like never before,” the former president said, referring to the date of the presidential inauguration.

Hurricane Helene hit Florida late last month, and the back-to-back storms have become campaign hubbub as Trump spreads conspiracy theories claiming Biden and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris are abandoning victims.

That sparked an angry response from Biden, who called Trump “reckless and irresponsible” on Wednesday.

‘Happy’

In Cocoa Beach on Florida’s east coast, a tornado swept in from the sea, blowing out almost all the windows of a hair salon and tearing a piece of roof off an embankment.

Katherine and Larry Hingle said they were on their porch watching the waters of a nearby river rise when the tornado hit them Wednesday evening.

“I said, ‘It sounds like a train is coming,'” Katherine, 53, told AFP as she walked her dog and surveyed the damage.

In Sarasota, resident Carrie Elizabeth expressed the feelings of many – that despite the violent night, Milton was not quite as unwell as feared.

“I feel like we’re very lucky,” she said. “It will take a long time to clean up, but it could have been a lot worse.”