Written by Brad Brooks and Leonora Lapeter Anton
FORT PIERCE/STILLIUM PETERSBURG, Fla. (Reuters) – Florida cleared fallen trees and power lines and cleared flooded areas on Friday after Hurricane Milton passed through with full force, killing at least 16 people. We carried out mopping-up work.
In Florida, one of the many states hit by Hurricane Helen about two weeks ago, Milton did not cause the catastrophic seawater rise that had been feared, but some people For some, cleanup efforts could take weeks or months.
Chase Pierce, a 25-year-old from west St. Petersburg, said he and his girlfriend witnessed a transformer explode, sending sparks and power lines falling into their backyard. “It opened my eyes to what Mother Nature can do. “I can do it,” he said.
Analysts say damage from Milton, the fifth-strongest Atlantic hurricane on record, could reach up to $100 billion for insurance companies alone.
The White House pledged government assistance as the full extent of the damage is still being assessed.
But a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election found that Republican Donald Trump, who is trailing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, is out of the storm. He attacked his opponent over his handling of recovery efforts.
“The federal government…is not doing what it should be doing, especially with North Carolina,” he said Thursday. North Carolina was hit hard by Herren, and Trump faces a close race against Harris there.
Harris hit back at the politicization of the issue at a Univision town hall event Thursday, claiming President Trump is spreading lies about the government’s response.
“Sadly, over the past two weeks, since Hurricane Helen and now right after Milton, we’ve seen people play political games,” Trump said. she said, without naming names.
Politicians on both sides of the aisle have talked about how Republican President George W. Bush’s approval ratings plummeted after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, and his response to what many at the time viewed as insufficient. I am deeply aware that I could never recover from this.
The Biden administration urged recessed lawmakers to take action, saying the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with Republicans in control of the House and Democrats in control of the Senate, would need additional funding from Congress.
deadly tornado
Floridians say they experienced a double disaster.
Milton made landfall on the state’s west coast Wednesday evening, but some of the worst damage occurred more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) away along the state’s east coast.
CBS News reported that there were at least 16 hurricane-related deaths, citing the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
A precursor tornado killed several people in St. Lucie County, including at least two people in the elderly Spanish Lakes community, local officials said.
Peak water levels reached 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 meters) above ground level between Siesta Key and Fort Myers Beach, according to a preliminary analysis released by the National Hurricane Center.
Approximately 2.75 million homes and businesses across Florida were without power late Thursday, according to PowerOutage.us.
Some people have been waiting days for power to be restored after Hurricane Helen hit the area.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned Thursday that the state has avoided the “worst-case scenario,” but the damage remains severe.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Fort Pierce and Leonora Rapeter Anton in St. Petersburg; Additional reporting by Julio-Cesar Chavez, Evan Garcia, Rich McKay, Stephanie Kelley and Jasper Ward; Writing by Kostas Pitas; (Edited by Sonali Paul)
