Residents slog through flooded streets, clear debris after Hurricane Milton tore through Florida
LITHIA, Fla. — Florida residents slogged through flooded streets, gathered up scattered debris and assessed damage to their homes on Friday after Hurricane Milton smashed through coastal communities and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes.
At least 10 people were dead and rescuers were still saving people from swollen rivers, but many expressed relief that Milton wasn’t worse. The hurricane spared densely populated Tampa a direct hit, and the lethal storm surge that scientists feared never materialized.
Gov. Ron DeSantis warned people to not let down their guard, however, citing ongoing safety threats including downed power lines and standing water that could hide dangerous objects.
“We’re now in the period where you have fatalities that are preventable,” DeSantis said Friday. “You have to make the proper decisions and know that there are hazards out there.”
As homeowners assessed damage to their property, about 2.2 million customers in Florida remained without power Friday, according to poweroutage.us. The 260,000 people in St. Petersburg were told to boil water before drinking, cooking or brushing their teeth, until at least Monday.
The state’s vital tourism industry started to return to normal, meanwhile, with several theme parks reopening. The state’s busiest airport was also scheduled to fully reopen Friday.
Arriving just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene, Milton flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays’ baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane.
Crews from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office on Friday were assisting with rescues of people, including a 92-year-old woman, who were stranded in rising waters along the Alafia River. The river is 25 miles long and runs from eastern Hillsborough County, east of Tampa, into Tampa Bay.
In Pinellas County, deputies used high-water vehicles to shuttle people back and forth to their homes in a flooded Palm Harbor neighborhood where waters continued to rise.
Ashley Cabrera left with her 18- and 11-year-old sons and their three dogs, Eeyore, Poe and Molly. It was the first time since Milton struck that they’ve been able to leave the neighborhood. They are now headed to a hotel in Orlando.
“I’m extremely thankful that we could get out now and go for the weekend somewhere we can get a hot meal and some gas,” she said. “I thought we’d be able to get out as soon as the storm was over. These roads have never flooded like this in all the years that I’ve lived here.”
Animals were being saved, too. Cindy Evers helped rescue a large pig stuck in high water Friday at a strip mall in Lithia east of Tampa. She had already rescued a donkey and several goats after the storm.
“I’m high and dry where I’m at and I have a barn and 9 acres,” said Evers, adding she will soon start to work to find the animals’ owners.
Some warnings were heeded and lessons learned. When 8 feet of seawater flooded Punta Gorda during Hurricane Helene last month, 121 people had to be rescued, Mayor Lynne Matthews said. Milton brought at least 5 feet of flooding, but rescuers only had to save three people.
“So people listened to the evacuation order,” Matthews said.
Milton smashed through the heart of Florida’s diminished orange groves. Heaps of fruit were scattered across the ground and trees toppled over after both Milton and Hurricane Helene swept through Polk County and other orange-growing regions, Matt Joyner of trade group Florida Citrus Mutual said Friday.
Milton arrived at the start of Florida’s orange growing season so it is still too early to evaluate the full scope of the damage.
Florida has already seen orange production diminish over the years. The industry is still recovering from hurricanes of years past, while also waging an ongoing battle against a deadly greening disease. Milton could be the knockout punch for some growers, Joyce said.
In Riverview, named because of its proximity to the Alafia River, a small bridge over a creek washed out, blocking Canadian Del Ockey from the home where he spends the six coldest months of the year.
Two planks over the now trickling creek are the only way he can get to his house. He rented a car and parked it on the other side, making a run Friday morning to get gas and fix a chain saw that broke as he was cutting down fallen trees around his home.
Ockey said he’s used to hurricanes, having built his house 26 years ago, but Milton was different.
“We’ve had seven or eight of them come before, but nothing like this one. This was big-time,” Ockey said.
There was good news for out-of-town tourists: Florida theme parks including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld reopened Friday.
Orlando International Airport, the state’s busiest, said departures for domestic flights and international flights would resume Friday, after resuming domestic arrivals Thursday evening. The airport had minor damage, including a few leaks and downed trees. Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers also reopened Friday.
MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa and Patrick Space Force Base near Cocoa Beach remain closed, with only authorized personnel allowed on the bases. MacDill, home to U.S. Central Command and Special Operations Command, experienced some damage and flooding, Air Force officials said. Patrick was spared any significant damage.
In the western coastal city of Clearwater, Kelvin Glenn said it took less than an hour early Thursday for water to rise to his waist inside his apartment. He and seven kids, ranging in age from 3 to 16, were trapped in the brown, foul floodwaters for about three hours before an upstairs neighbor opened their home to them.
Later Thursday, first responders arrived in boats to ferry them away from the building.
“Sitting in that cold nasty water was kind of bad,” Glenn said.
Short-term survival is now turning into long-term worries. A hotel is $160 a night. Everything inside Glenn’s apartment is gone. And it can take time to get assistance.
“I ain’t going to say we’re homeless,” Glenn said. “But we’ve got to start all over again.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has enough money to deal with the immediate needs of people impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton but will need additional funding at some point, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said Friday.
The disaster assistance fund helps pay for the swift response to hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and other disasters across the U.S. Congress recently replenished the fund with $20 billion — the same amount as last year.
