Hurricane Milton Claims At Least 11 Lives in Florida, But Its Impact Is Less Severe Than Anticipated.
In a devastating turn of events, Hurricane Milton has claimed the lives of at least 11 individuals as it swept through Florida, unleashing tornadoes that wreaked havoc across the state. Authorities have reported widespread flooding, power outages, and various other troubles from what turned out to be a less catastrophic storm than initially predicted.
Late Wednesday night, the hurricane roared across the region before moving out to sea, leaving behind a trail of destruction with roads blocked by fallen trees and tangled power lines. Approximately three million residences and businesses found themselves without electricity.
Early indications suggest that it was the tornadoes, not flooding, that account for the fatalities related to this storm. “It was incredibly frightening,” recounted Susan Stepp, a 70-year-old resident of Fort Pierce. Her community saw the tragic loss of four lives when a tornado generated by Milton tore through a local senior living facility.
“I really wish they had ordered an evacuation,” she lamented.
The casualties include five in St. Lucie County, three in Volusia County, two in St. Petersburg, and one in Tampa, as per local officials. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed that the tornadoes were the primary cause of these tragic incidents.
In Tampa, authorities discovered a woman in her early 70s trapped beneath a massive tree branch. She was later pronounced dead, and officials noted her death “is believed to be associated with the restoration activities following Hurricane Milton.”
Additionally, a road crew member in Polk County lost his life after being struck by a colleague’s vehicle while he worked to remove a fallen tree.
Bill Stepp, Susan’s husband, shared a harrowing account: a tornado “picked up my 22-ton motor home and tossed it across the yard.” The 72-year-old reflected, “It’s both terrifying and heart-wrenching to see so much destruction and the loss of beloved items, but they are just possessions, and we’re still here.”
Fortuitously, the southeastern state managed to evade the level of catastrophic devastation that many had dreaded.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis addressed the media, stating, “The storm posed substantial challenges, but thankfully, we did not experience the worst-case scenario.” Milton made landfall on the Gulf Coast as a formidable Category 3 storm, heralding powerful winds that battered communities still recovering from Hurricane Helene just two weeks prior, which had claimed 237 lives in Florida and surrounding southeastern states.
The National Weather Service reported an unprecedented 126 tornado warnings activated across Florida on Wednesday, the highest count recorded in a single day since records began in 1986, according to hurricane expert Michael Lowry.
In Sarasota Bay, 72-year-old interior designer Kristin Joyce, who also chose not to evacuate, documented the aftermath with snapshots of snapped tree branches. “There’s no denying that this should serve as a major wake-up call regarding climate change,” she reflected while appraising the damage.
Scientists caution that increasing temperatures are contributing to more severe and frequent extreme rainfall events and destructive storms. The warmer surfaces of the ocean release greater amounts of water vapor, feeding storms as they develop.
President Joe Biden, having spoken with Governor DeSantis, urged Floridians to remain indoors in the storm’s aftermath, as downed power lines and debris posed significant hazards.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, shared his prayers for those impacted by the storm alongside his wife, Melania, in a social media video. He encouraged people to vote for him, asserting, “I hope that on January 20, you’ll have someone in the White House who will truly assist you as never before,” alluding to the inauguration day.
The back-to-back storms have fueled political discourse, with Trump propelling conspiracy theories suggesting Biden and Kamala Harris have turned their backs on storm victims. This prompted an outraged response from Biden, who characterized Trump as “reckless” and “irresponsible.”
On Florida’s east coast in Cocoa Beach, a tornado swept in from the ocean, smashing nearly every window of a hair salon and tearing a chunk off a bank roof.
Katherine and Larry Hingle recalled their experience sitting on their porch, watching a nearby river’s water levels rise when the tornado struck. “I said, ‘it sounds like a train is coming,'” Ms. Hingle recounted, as they took their dog out to assess the chaos.
In Sarasota, resident Carrie Elizabeth echoed sentiments of relief amid the storm’s fury: “I feel incredibly fortunate. The cleanup will take forever, but it could have been significantly worse.”
Edited by: Ali Musa
alimusa@axadletimes.com
Axadle international–Monitoring
