FORT PIERCE, Florida – Millions of Floridians on Friday began a long and difficult recovery after the state’s second major hurricane in two weeks, restoring power, shoveling mud from flooded homes and clearing mountains of debris left by Milton and Helene.
While some coastal cities such as Tampa were spared the catastrophic surge of seawater that many forecasters feared, Milton brought widespread flooding and touched off a spate of deadly tornadoes on Florida’s east coast, killing at least 16 people and leaving millions without power.
Many areas had still been clearing debris and repairing damage from Hurricane Helene, which slammed into the Gulf Coast late last month before battering much of the southeast US.
During a 72-hour period this week, the Florida Department of Transportation removed 2 200 truckloads of debris – more than 40 000 cubic yards – from Pinellas County barrier islands near the mouth of Tampa Bay, Governor Ron DeSantis said on Friday at a briefing. A cubic yard is about twice the size of a washing machine.
“I don’t think there’s ever been that much debris removed in such a short period of time,” he said.
Utility workers repaired downed power lines and damaged cellphone towers, while crews from government agencies and residents armed with chainsaws cleared downed trees and mopped up flooded neighbourhoods in cities and towns swamped by heavy rains.
The number of Florida homes and businesses without electricity dropped to about 2.27 million by late Friday morning, according to the website PowerOutage.us, from a high of more than 3.4 million in Milton’s immediate aftermath. Some customers have been waiting days for power to be restored after Helene hit the area.
More than 6 500 National Guard members have been activated in 23 Florida counties, and are involved with search and rescue, ground and air reconnaissance, humanitarian assistance, route clearance and other efforts, said Major General John Haas, the governor’s senior military advisor. (Reuters)
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