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(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden volition circuit the harm from Hurricane Milton successful Florida connected Sunday, 4 days aft the storm, arsenic conscionable nether 1 cardinal homes and businesses stay without power.
In his archetypal sojourn to the Sunshine State since Milton’s landfall Wednesday evening, Biden volition get successful Tampa and depart connected an aerial circuit of the surrounding areas.
Biden approved a large catastrophe declaration for Florida Saturday, the 2nd successful arsenic galore weeks. The authorities is inactive recovering from Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 storm, which deed precocious September.
A catastrophe declaration allows states to usage national funds, and radical successful affected areas tin use for assistance done FEMA.
The president is expected to conscionable with federal, state, and section officials successful St. Pete Beach, Florida, astir 9 miles westbound of St. Petersburg wherever his aerial circuit volition end.
Post-Milton cleanup efforts ongoing
Day 4 post-Milton looks akin to the erstwhile days: cleanup, recovery, and powerfulness restoration.
Category 3 tempest winds tore panels disconnected the roof of Tropicana Field, location of MLB's Tampa Bay Rays, and a construction crane crashed into the Tampa Bay Times building.
Cleanup is an ongoing effort successful St. Pete Beach and statewide. The St. Pete Beach Fire Department had to erect a makeshift occurrence presumption determination astatine a edifice due to the fact that 1 of their stations was deed by Helene 2 weeks prior.
“I don’t deliberation you ever get utilized to being deed by hurricanes,” Deputy Fire Chief Adam Poirrier told NewsNation’s Mills Hayes. “Certainly 2 (hurricanes) wrong 2 and a fractional weeks was retired of the norm … I don’t deliberation we believed that was going to hap due to the fact that it’s ne'er happened successful the past. Sadly, we’re getting beauteous bully astatine this now.”
The fig of powerfulness outages has decreased importantly from the archetypal 3.3 cardinal aft the storm.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said successful a quality league Saturday day that crews from arsenic acold arsenic Canada are moving to reconstruct powerfulness to the remaining 993,000 homes and businesses without it.
Fuel shortages crossed Florida
Many state stations inactive don’t person power, causing a statewide substance shortage. Twenty-eight percent of state stations successful the authorities bash not person fuel, according to GasBuddy’s Fuel Tracker.
Hundreds of cars formed an hours-long enactment extracurricular 1 state presumption successful Bradenton, Florida, Saturday morning.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said 3 substance depots opened Saturday. More volition unfastened Sunday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET successful Port Charlotte, Pinellas County, Hillsborough County, and Sarasota County.
The state’s bulk of remaining powerfulness outages are successful those counties.
Milton barreled done the central-western portion of the authorities upon landfall, archetypal hitting Sarasota County.
Hurricane Milton’s destruction
Homes destroyed by Hurricane Milton are seen successful Grove City, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
LAKEWOOD PARK, FLORIDA- OCTOBER 10 Shane Ostrander looks done what remains of his location aft a tornado spawned by Hurricane Milton destroyed his location successful Lakewood Park, Florida connected October 10, 2024. Ostrander and his woman Nichole Gaza had been sitting connected their surviving country couch, with their dog, Atticus erstwhile their beforehand doorway began to get suctioned. They ran backmost into their chamber closet and astir immeidately, everything astir them, their location was decimated. The closet remained successful tact. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn for the Washington Post)
Hangars astatine Albert Whitted Airport were damaged by winds from Hurricane Milton connected Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, successful St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
A precocious emergence operation crane broke isolated and crashed into the gathering crossed the thoroughfare during Hurricane Milton connected Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, successful St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
The destroyed extortion of the Tropicana Dome is seen successful the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, successful St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Arriving conscionable 2 weeks aft the devastating Hurricane Helene, the strategy knocked retired powerfulness to much than 3 cardinal customers initially, flooded obstruction islands and spawned tornadoes. At slightest a dozen tornadoes tore done St. Lucie County, Florida, successful conscionable 2 hours, according to St. Lucie County’s communications manager Erick Gill.
Officials successful hard-hit counties person warned radical to beware of downed powerfulness lines, trees successful roads, blocked bridges, and flooding. Ft. Myers is nether a ft of floodwater days later.
"You tin fell from the wind, but you've got to tally from the water," said Ft. Myers Mayor Kevin B. Anderson connected NewsNation Saturday morning.
The National Weather Service reported astir 19 inches of rainfall successful the St. Petersburg area. A tempest surge of 8 to 10 feet was reported successful Sarasota County. Milton rapidly weakened to a Category 1 tempest arsenic it moved inland.
Polk County officials shared a harrowing communicative of beingness successful a deadly storm. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said immoderate of the office’s deputies helped transport a pregnant pistillate to the hospital aboriginal Thursday greeting arsenic she was going into labor, successfully getting her to the infirmary to present her daughter, Jade.
In Venice Beach, a location was wholly buried successful sand, with the heap precocious capable to propulsion furnishings halfway up a doorway astir hitting the ceiling. The City of Venice said the country remains highly unsafe owed to heavy holes, travel hazards, exposed utilities, and crisp debris.
What we cognize astir Florida's recovery
All highways are open, and each commercialized airports are unfastened but for the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, Gov. DeSantis said Saturday afternoon. The airdrome aims to reopen connected Wednesday, Oct. 16.
Other updates include:
- 1,000 radical were rescued from floodwaters
- 12,000 miles of roadway person been cleared.
- 2,400 bridges person been inspected.
- 90% of postulation signals are backmost successful operation.
- 43 of the 54 schoolhouse districts volition reopen Monday
Disaster assistance
The IRS announced taxation alleviation for Milton victims. People and businesses successful affected parts of Florida person until May 1, 2025, to record assorted national idiosyncratic and concern taxation returns and marque taxation payments.
People successful affected counties tin besides use for fiscal assistance done FEMA.
The “Serious Needs Assistance” is an upfront, flexible outgo to assistance screen indispensable items similar food, water, babe formula, breastfeeding supplies, medicine and different exigency supplies, according to the agency.
There are 4 ways you tin use for FEMA catastrophe assistance:
- Fill retired a DisasterAssistance.gov exertion online
- Apply utilizing the FEMA app by downloading the escaped app from your smartphone’s app store
- Apply by telephone astatine 1-800-621-3362
- Apply successful idiosyncratic astatine a Disaster Recovery Center (DRC). Find a DRC adjacent you
According to the agency, you indispensable unrecorded successful a presidentially declared catastrophe country to person fiscal assistance from FEMA. You tin cheque your area’s presumption with FEMA’s code lookup instrumentality here.
