Summary
Here’s a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
Joe Biden said that Hurricane Milton caused $50bn in damage and that his administration had been in constant contact with state and local officials in Florida and was “providing all the resources needed”.
The White House also announced that Biden would travel to Florida on Sunday, to visit the areas impacted by Milton.
Florida officials said that so far, more than 1,600 people had been rescued from flood waters, rubble and other hazards.
Pasco county issued a voluntary evacuation order for parts of the county due to heavy flooding.
As of 2pm ET, more than 2.2 million Florida residents still have no power.
Almost 29% of the gas stations in Florida were out of gas on Friday morning and in the Tampa and St Petersburg area, 73% of the gas stations were out.
A baby was born in a Pinellas county shelter, county officials said, adding that the shelter staff helped with the delivery. In addition, about 1,500 people in Pinellas county are still in the county shelters.
There are 9,000 Florida national guard on active duty, conducting ongoing response efforts, including search and rescue, humanitarian assistance, road clearance and high wheel vehicle support, state officials said.
The death toll of Milton continues to rise. Authorities in Tampa said that a woman was killed by a falling tree branch, and authorities in Orange county have confirmed the death of a man in his 60s, who appeared to have stepped on a downed power line while cleaning debris from the storm.
Governor Ron DeSantis warned Floridians not to go near downed power lines, as the state begins to see fatalities due to interactions with downed power lines, and water.
The city of Sarasota announced that access to the barrier islands had been restored, but officials advised that services may not be available, including water and power.
Sarasota Bradenton international airport remains closed, after it suffered damage to its roof over the main concourse, and also had some water damage. Other airports, such as Orlando international and Tampa international airport saw delays and cancellations.
Coastal flood advisories are still in effect in some areas north-east and east-central Florida. And although Hurricane Milton has exited Florida, the National Weather Service has warned that significant river flooding will continue for the coming days to weeks.
A new analysis found that the climate crisis significantly worsened the impact of Hurricane Milton by supercharging its rainfall and winds. The analysis said that the huge amount of rainfall unleashed by Hurricane Milton was made 20-30% more intense and about as twice as likely due to human-caused changes to today’s climate.
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Biden said that his government was “providing all the resources needed” to deal with Hurricane Milton.
Biden thanked the first responders, power line workers, state and local officials, and other workers and volunteers who are helping with recovery efforts from Milton.
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In the briefing at the White House, Biden said that his administration had been in constant contact, calling and reaching out to more than 40 state and local officials in Florida with regards to Hurricane Milton.
He said that the government needed to continue to invest in hardening the US power grid, such as putting the transmission lines under ground, replacing wood power poles and more.
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Biden says that Hurricane Milton caused $50bn in damage
Speaking to press from the White House, President Joe Biden said on Friday that experts estimate that Hurricane Milton caused around $50bn in damage.
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Although Hurricane Milton has exited Florida, the National Weather Service has warned that significant river flooding will continue for the coming days to weeks.
As of 1pm on Friday, weather officials reported widespread moderate and major flooding in Central Florida and St Johns River Basin, with record flooding occurring or forecast to occur at several locations.
While there is little to no rain expected in the south-east for the next several days, the river levels are projected to continue to rise in many areas and river flooding is expected to last for days to weeks, according to the National Weather Service.
The Orlando Utilities Commission, a municipally owned public utility providing water and electric service to areas of Orlando and Orange county, said that as of 10.30am, 67% of power had been restored to their customers.
The majority of restorations will be complete by Saturday night, the commission said, with full restoration likely complete by Sunday night.
As of 10:30AM, we've restored power to 67% of customers. Majority of restorations will be complete by Saturday night, with full restoration likely complete by Sunday night. We haven’t forgotten the remaining 29K still without power—thank you for your patience! #HurricaneMilton pic.twitter.com/TdAZI0qdW2
— Orlando Utilities Commission (@OUCreliableone) October 11, 2024
As of 1.15pm ET, 2.2 million Florida residents across the state are still without power, according to poweroutage.us.
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Hazardous beach conditions will continue across some Atlantic coast beaches as a high risk of rip currents remains in place, the National Weather Service said on Friday.
The Service said that a strong north-easterly swell from the remnants of Hurricane Milton will pass through the Atlantic waters on Friday, leading to very high surf heights.
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On Friday morning, almost 29% of the gas stations in Florida were out of gas, according to GasBuddy.
In the Tampa and St Petersburg area, 73% of the gas stations had no fuel.
In Sarasota, 54% of the gas stations were without gas; in the Fort Myers/Naples area, about 41% were out.
Additionally, about 34% of gas stations in the Orlando and Daytona Beach area were also out of gas.
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Federal Emergency Management Agency administrative director, Deanne Criswell, said on Friday that the hurricanes making landfall in the US were bringing an increased amount of risk.
“Each one is different from the one before that, and when we talk about Hurricane Charlie and how it was very focused on an area and it was more of a wind event, Ian was definitely much more of a water event, Helene, certainly a water event,” Criswell said. In Hurricane Milton, “we saw tornadoes like I’ve never seen them before.”
“We continue to make sure that we are leaning in as aggressively as we can to pre position resources” Criswell said, adding that Fema had more than 1,200 search and rescue resources in the state from “across the federal family, because we know life safety is the most important thing”.
Criswell said that as hurricanes continue to get stronger, Fema would continue to work with local officials and discuss ways to reduce the impacts of future hurricanes.
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Joe Biden will travel to Florida on Sunday
Joe Biden is scheduled to travel to Florida on Sunday 13 October to visit the areas impacted by Hurricane Milton.
The US president is also scheduled to give an update on the federal response to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton at 1pm ET today.
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More than 1,600 people have been rescued from flood waters, rubble and other hazards, Florida officials say
Governor Ron DeSantis said on Friday that since Hurricane Milton made landfall on Florida’s west coast on Wednesday night, search and rescue teams have worked around the clock to execute life-saving missions in areas of the west coast, as well as in parts of central and south-east Florida affected by the flooding and tornadoes.
As of Friday morning, more than 1,600 people and more than 140 pets have been rescued from flood waters, rubble, or other hazards, DeSantis added.
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Tampa police are investigating a fatal traffic accident that occurred on Thursday, when a 55-year-old woman was killed after two cars collided in an area where the traffic signal was not working due to widespread power outages caused by Hurricane Milton.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life that occurred last night,” Tampa police chief, Lee Bercaw, said on Friday.
Bercaw continued: “This incident serves as a stark reminder of the importance of traveling safely, especially in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. All drivers are urged to be extra cautious, especially at intersections, and to treat non-functioning traffic signals as four-way stops. Let’s work together to prevent such tragedies in the future.”
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A separate study, also released on Friday, found that the huge amount of rainfall unleashed by Hurricane Milton was made 20-30% more intense and about as twice as likely due to human-caused climate change, according to the World Weather Attribution group.
Dr Friederike Otto, at WWA, said: “Almost everyone is becoming poorer because of climate change. This [new cost] analysis clearly shows that our failure to stop burning fossil fuels is already resulting in incredible economic losses. [Such research] will help people understand the importance of tackling climate change and pave the way to hold major carbon polluters responsible.”
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The climate crisis has added billions of dollars to the damage caused in Florida by hurricanes Helene and Milton, two rapid scientific analyses have found.
They show that global heating, which is caused by the burning of fossil fuels and supercharges hurricanes, was responsible for almost half the direct damage caused by Helene and Milton. Put another way, if human actions had not heated the planet, the damages would have been half as much.
“With every fraction of a degree of warming, extreme weather events like hurricanes Milton and Helene become more powerful and cause more damage,” said Prof Ralf Toumi, at Imperial College London, UK.
“[Our] studies should be a wake-up call for anyone who thinks climate change is not important or too expensive to deal with – the longer it takes the world to cut emissions, the costlier extreme weather will become.”
Dr Emily Theokritoff, also at Imperial College London, said: “This estimate of direct climate change contribution to damages is just a small snapshot of how much Florida will pay for the hurricanes. From lost productivity to strained health systems to damaged infrastructure, the economic impacts will be felt for years.”
The researchers started their study by using the Imperial College Storm Model to determine that global heating caused Helene’s wind speeds at landfall to be 13mph stronger, and Milton’s 11mph stronger. This means that in a world without climate change, a Milton-type Category 3 hurricane would have instead made landfall as a weaker Category 2 hurricane.
The researchers then used previous work to determine how much damage to homes, buildings and other assets was caused by these elevated wind speeds and estimated that 44% of the immediate economic damage caused by Helene and 45% of that caused by Milton can be attributed to human-caused climate change. Earlier research by NOAA found that every category increase in hurricane intensity sees damages in the US increase by about four-fold.
As crews in Pasco county continue to navigate the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, county officials reminded residents on Friday of the voluntary evacuation orders in place.
“Our Pasco county fire rescue team is ready to assist anyone needing to leave due to river flooding,” officials said.
Pasco county recommends voluntary evacuations in several areas, including Elfers, Cypress Creek at Worthington Gardens and Thousand Oaks, and anyone in low-lying areas or areas prone to flooding.
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Pinellas county officials said that more than 500 properties in the county have been destroyed or have reported major damages as they continue to survey and assess the damage.
In addition, officials added that about 83% of the county remained without power on Friday morning.
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A baby was born in a Pinellas county shelter, per officials
At a news briefing on Friday morning, Pinellas county officials said that a baby girl was born in a Pinellas county Hurricane shelter.
“Our shelter staff helped with the delivery” Cathie Perkins, the county’s director of emergency management said. “It’s beautiful to see that new life in the middle of all of this destruction.”
The county officials did not say which day the child was born.
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At a Pinellas county hurricane briefing this morning, county officials said that there were still about 1,500 people in the county’s shelters.
Over 170 of them have been in the shelters for the last two weeks, since Hurricane Helene, the county officials added.
The county officials said that while most of the flood waters have receded in most areas of the county, county officials said that some places still remained with flooding and were at risk for potentially more flooding.
“Conditions are still very hazardous in a lot of areas” Cathie Perkins, the county’s director of emergency management said.
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Melissa Seixas, the state president of Duke Energy in Florida, said at a news conference on Friday, that thousands of workers were staged around the state and were currently working on restoring power for their customers.
“We realize that you all need information on when we expect power to be restored” Seixas said. “But I am here to tell you: This is not weeks. This is days.”
Duke Energy serves 35 counties in Florida, Seixas said.
According to poweroutage.us, there are 767,432 Duke Energy customers in Florida that are currently without power.
9,000 Florida national guard on active duty
The Florida national guard currently has 9,000 members activated, state officials said at a news conference on Friday morning.
The guard is currently conducting ongoing response efforts, including search and rescue, humanitarian assistance, road clearance, and high wheel vehicle support.
The guard is supporting 23 counties, the officials said, with 192 active missions.
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DeSantis warns people not to go near downed power lines
Florida governor Ron DeSantis is holding a news conference and providing updates on the Hurricane Milton recovery efforts.
So far in the briefing, DeSantis said that 12,000 miles of state roads have been cleared, and in less than 12 hours, 158 bridge inspectors have conducted nearly 2,000 bridge inspections across the impacted areas.
When it comes to fatalities, DeSantis mentioned the five fatalities in St Lucie as a result of the tornadoes there, and said that the state has had “fatalities of that nature”.
DeSantis said that now, what the state is seeing, are “fatalities that are preventable, we have had fatalities because of interaction with downed power lines, and water”.
“Please exercise caution,” he said. “There are still some hazards out there.”
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Emergency management officials in Sarasota urged residents to be cautious on the roads and said that more than 50% of the county is still without power.
In a video statement on Friday, emergency management chief Sandra Tapfumaneyi said road conditions remained hazardous and that crews were out today cleaning and clearing the debris on the roads.
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In Pinellas county, officials say that high-water flooding is still an issue after Hurricane Milton, and deputies in the East Lake region will transport affected residents in high-water vehicles.
The sheriff’s office said the service will run from 7am to 7pm daily until the flood water subsides.
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Obama condemns Trump hurricane disinformation: 'when did that become okay?'
In a speech on Thursday, former president Barack Obama condemned former president Donald Trump for spreading disinformation about the Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.
Spreading disinformation has “consequences”, Obama said. “People are afraid, and they’ve lost everything, and now they’re trying to figure out how do I apply for help and someone may be discouraged from getting the help they need.”
Visibly emotional, Obama continued: “The idea of intentionally trying to deceive people in their most desperate and most vulnerable moments, and my question is, when did that become okay?”
Obama was speaking at a campaign rally for the presidential campaign of vice-president Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
WATCH-- Obama on Trump and his allies spreading hurricane misinformation: "When did that become okay?" pic.twitter.com/urpaobPVUh
— All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) October 11, 2024
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The city of Sarasota has announced that access to the barrier islands has been restored.
Access to Siesta Key, where Hurricane Milton made landfall on Wednesday night, has also been restored, according to Sarasota police department.
Officials have advised that while access to the islands has been resorted, services may not be available, including water and power.
𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬: 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧!
— City of Sarasota (@CityofSarasota) October 11, 2024
Access to the barrier islands is now open w/ 1 one WB & 1 EB lane on the southern span of the Little Ringling Bridge to accommodate motorists while the northern span undergoes a comprehensive inspection. pic.twitter.com/AUHBaq36C2
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The Sarasota Bradenton international airport will remained closed on Friday.
Airport officials said on Thursday that they were still assessing the conditions and beginning the clean up effort post Hurricane Milton.
According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the airport sustained severe roof damage as Milton made landfall.
In an interview with the news outlet, Rick Piccolo, the president and CEO of the airport said that the airport lost two sections of the roof over the main concourse, and also had some water damage.
“We had a lot of destruction” Piccolo said. “It’ll take a couple of days to get everything secured and up and running again.”
The Herald-Tribune said that the airport is expected to reopen on Saturday.
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Milton significantly worsened by the climate crisis, study finds
The climate crisis, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, significantly worsened the impact of Hurricane Milton by supercharging its rainfall and winds, a new rapid analysis has found.
The huge amount of rainfall unleashed by Hurricane Milton, which hit Florida on Wednesday night, was made 20-30% more intense and about as twice as likely due to human-caused changes to today’s climate, according to the World Weather Attribution, a multinational consortium of scientists.
Milton’s wind speeds were also stronger, by around 10%, due to global heating, the analysis found. The findings are in line with another attribution study released by the same group this week, which found that Hurricane Helene’s strength was made twice as likely due to the climate crisis.
While hurricanes have long been a feature of life for southern US states, heightened ocean and atmospheric temperatures are providing storms with more energy and loading them with extra moisture that can then be unleashed as rainfall, causing flooding on land.
Both Helene and Milton rapidly gathered strength in the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall, with scientists pointing to the Gulf’s excess heat as a key factor in the acceleration of the storms. The Gulf has been running at record hot temperatures since the summer, with researchers calculating that this heat has been made at least 200 times more likely due to the climate crisis.
“It’s like there was a powder keg, waiting for a spark,” Brian McNoldy, a Florida-based climate scientist, told the Guardian shortly before Milton hit the state. “Now we have that spark. Milton is a remarkable storm, it’s exceptional in all history in terms of its intensification rate.”
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A woman in Tampa was killed by a falling tree branch, police say
On Thursday, Tampa police announced that they were investigating the death of an elderly woman, believed to be related to restoration efforts post-Hurricane Milton.
Authorities said that just after 11.00am on Thursday, officers responded to the 2800 block of N Nebraska Ave following the report of a large tree branch that had collapsed.
Upon arrival, officers found a woman in her early 70s underneath the branch, they said. The woman was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Based on the preliminary investigation, post-hurricane restoration efforts were being done on the property when the limb fell, the police said, adding that at this time, the death appears accidental in nature.
“Although the storm has passed, its devastation has tragically taken the life of one of our community members,” Tampa police chief Lee Bercaw said. “Our thoughts are with the family as they grieve their loved one.”
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Walt Disney World theme parks, Disney Springs and mini-golf locations have reopened.
On Friday, Walt Disney World announced that the theme parks, as well as Disney Springs and mini-golf locations had reopened but that two resorts and two water parks remained temporarily closed.
“Our hearts are with our fellow Floridians who were impacted by this storm,” the company wrote in a statement.
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Officials in Hernando county are assisting residents with evacuations on Friday morning, as the Alafia River near Rose Street has flooded.
The Hillsborough county sheriff’s office posted a video of the flooding in the area this morning.
#teamHCSO is out this morning, assisting residents with evacuations as the Alafia River near Rose Street has flooded. If you are experiencing an emergency, please call 911. pic.twitter.com/LluK06UlBD
— HCSO (@HCSOSheriff) October 11, 2024
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Coastal flood advisories are still in effect in some areas of Florida.
According to the National Weather Service, coastal flood advisories are still in effect on Friday mornings in northeast and east-central Florida areas, including coastal parts of Duval, Volusia, St Johns, and Flagler counties.
In the coastal areas under the advisories, weather officials have warned that numerous roads may be closed, that low-lying property and some critical infrastructure “will be inundated”, and that some shoreline erosion will occur.
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Officials in Bradenton, a city on the Manatee River just south of Tampa, shared photos on Friday of the damage caused by Hurricane Milton.
The photos, which were taken on Thursday as teams assessed the damage, show destroyed buildings and downed trees and power lines.
The area was hit with 102mph winds, officials said.
Wind gusts from Hurricane #Milton topped 102 mph in Bradenton. These photos were taken Thursday, as BPD surveyed wind damage. As of Friday morning, 156,000 customers are without power in Manatee County. @BradentonGov @ManateeGov pic.twitter.com/wm2j4ffX1a
— Bradenton Police Department (@BradentonPD) October 11, 2024
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Officials have confirmed another death as result of Hurricane Milton
In a statement, the Orange county sheriff’s office confirmed the death of a man in his 60s who lived in the Orlando area.
The man was reported dead on Thursday, police said, after he was found deceased in his yard in the 6600 block of Pine Island Place, north of downtown Orlando, on Thursday afternoon.
The police said the man appeared to have stepped on a downed power line while cleaning debris from the storm.
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Though several Florida airports have reopened post Hurricane Milton, travel delays and cancellations are occurring.
At Orlando international airport, 22% of the flights departing the airport today have already been cancelled this morning, according to Flight Aware, and 8% of flights coming in have been cancelled.
At Tampa international airport, 26% of flights leaving the airport have been cancelled today.
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The US Coast Guard has announced the reopening of several commercial ports in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
The Coast Guard said that each port had been assessed for safety after Milton made landfall on Florida’s Gulf coast as a category 3 hurricane and traveled across the state of Florida.
The ports that have reopened in Florida are Key West, Port Everglades, Port Miami and the Miami River. In Georgia, Brunswick and Savannah have reopened, and in South Carolina, Charleston and Georgetown ports are back open
But several other ports in Florida, including in St Petersburg, Fort Myers, Palm Beach, Fort Pierce, Port Canaveral and others, remain closed as of Thursday, pending ongoing evaluations and surveys.
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More than 2.4 million residents in Florida are still without power.
In Hillsborough county, which includes the city of Tampa, power is out for almost 70% of the residents, according to poweroutage.us.
In Pinellas county, which includes some of the hardest hit areas such as St Petersburg, more than 80% of residents still have no power.
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As of Friday, several rivers near Florida’s west coast remain under flood warnings, with the National Weather Service warning of flooding in some areas.
Major flooding is forecast for the Hillsborough River and Alafia River in Hillsborough County, and in Cypress Creek in Pasco County.
The Little Manatee River in Hillsborough County is at risk of moderate flooding, the National Weather Service said, and the Horse Creek in DeSoto County will experience minor flooding.
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How could hurricane misinformation affect the US election?
Alex Jones, the longtime conspiracy theorist liable for millions for defaming school shooting victims, started a broadcast this week with one of his favorite topics: weather manipulation.
“All right, I did a lot of research and a lot of preparation the last 30 years for what I’m going to be covering today,” he said. “Coming up, I’m going to do a big presentation for everybody on what’s really going on with weather weapons.”
Amid two hurricanes – one of which hit two swing states – formerly fringe characters like Jones contributed to a swirl of conspiracy theories, many becoming uncomfortably mainstream. The weather was being controlled, some of the theories went, to prevent Republicans from voting and fend off a Trump victory.
The misinformation since Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina and Georgia and Milton hit Florida offers a test run for how election day could go – and it’s not looking good.
Social media sites like X, Facebook and TikTok all gave a platform to hurricane truthers and politicians who saw an opening to spread doubt and distrust of government. That distrust in some cases then led to threats and harassment against aid workers, meteorologists and government officials.
The hurricanes hit at a crucial time in the US election calendar – about a month out from November’s presidential contest. Because Helene hit two swing states, turnout could be affected by the storm’s devastation and affected states are considering rule changes to accommodate people who may not have transportation or identification. Those changes will become fodder for allegations that the election will be rigged.
Read on here:
US meteorologists face death threats as hurricane conspiracies surge
Meteorologists tracking the advance of Hurricane Milton have been targeted by a deluge of conspiracy theories that they were controlling the weather, abuse and even death threats, amid what they say is an unprecedented surge in misinformation as two major hurricanes have hit the US.
A series of falsehoods and threats have swirled in the two weeks since Hurricane Helene tore through six states causing several hundred deaths, followed by Milton crashing into Florida on Wednesday.
The extent of the misinformation, which has been stoked by Donald Trump and his followers, has been such that it has stymied the ability to help hurricane-hit communities, according to the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).
Katie Nickolaou, a Michigan-based meteorologist, said that she and her colleagues have borne the brunt of much of these conspiracies, having received messages claiming there are category 6 hurricanes (there aren’t), that meteorologists or the government are creating and directing hurricanes (they aren’t) and even that scientists should be killed and radar equipment be demolished.
“I’ve never seen a storm garner so much misinformation, we have just been putting out fires of wrong information everywhere,” Nickolaou said.
“I have had a bunch of people saying I created and steered the hurricane, there are people assuming we control the weather. I have had to point out that a hurricane has the energy of 10,000 nuclear bombs and we can’t hope to control that. But it’s taken a turn to more violent rhetoric, especially with people saying those who created Milton should be killed.”
One post aimed at Nickolaou said: “Stop the breathing of those that made them and their affiliates.” She responded: “Murdering meteorologists won’t stop hurricanes. I can’t believe I just had to type that.”
Here are some of the latest images from Florida:
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The Associated Press has been speaking to residents in Florida returning to their homes.
Natasha Ducre and her husband, Terry, were just feeling lucky to be alive. Milton peeled the tin roof off of their cinderblock home in their neighborhood a few blocks north of the Manatee River, about a 45-minute drive south of Tampa.
She pushed to leave as the storm barreled toward them Wednesday night after he resisted evacuating their three-bedroom house where he grew up and where the couple lived with their three kids and two grandchildren. She believes the decision saved their lives.
They returned to find the roof of their home scattered in sheets across the street, the wooden beams of what was their ceiling exposed to the sky. Inside, fiberglass insulation hung down in shreds, their belongings soaked by the rain and littered with chunks of shattered drywall.
“It ain’t much, but it was ours. What little bit we did have is gone,” she said. “It’s gone.”
With shelters no longer available and the cost of a hotel room out of reach, they plan to cram into Terry Ducre’s mother’s house for now. After that, they’re not sure.
“I don’t have no answers,” Natasha Ducre said. “What is my next move? What am I going to do?”
The Guardian has published the following editorial on Hurricane Milton and other disasters:
The preparations for Hurricane Milton were on a mammoth scale, as the clean-up will be. The storm thankfully lost some of its force before it slammed into Florida, making landfall on Wednesday night as a category 3 hurricane. But many more lives would surely have been lost without the massive evacuation and the deployment of thousands of national guard troops and personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
This was the second direct hit on the state in less than a fortnight, after Hurricane Helene, which killed at least 225 people in the US. The hotter ocean temperatures which worsened these storms are hundreds of times likelier because of human-made global heating, a new analysis has shown. Climate change may have increased the rain dumped on parts of the south by Helene by 50%, scientists believe. Another study has suggested such double punches could arrive every three years thanks to the continuing burning of fossil fuels.
Extreme weather is becoming the new normal. This autumn there has been heavy rain in the Sahara and flash floods in Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand. They follow spring’s torrential rain in Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and Kenya, and heavy flooding in Germany. Lethal heatwaves hit south and south-east Asia and then the Mediterranean.
What marks Florida out is the disparity between the concern rightly given to the consequences of the storms and the widespread unwillingness of many there to acknowledge the causes of extreme weather – still less the role in it that the US plays. It has the greatest planet-heating emissions per capita of the top 10 emitters. Global heating makes preparing for such events, and recovering from their consequences, more essential than ever. But it is ludicrous to take such steps without also addressing what is making them more extreme and more frequent.
Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, warned that Milton would do “an awful lot of damage”. Yet not only is he aggressively pro-fossil-fuel, and the signatory of a ban on wind energy infrastructure. He is a climate change denier who has signed a bill erasing the words from Florida statutes.
Read on here:
Car dealership AutoNation said that it closed 38 sites in Florida as Hurricane Milton damaged several of the auto retailer’s sites in the region.
Early assessments showed many of the locations sustained wind or water damage, CEO Mike Manley said in a statement.
AutoNation said it had closed many sites in impacted regions before the storm hit, and added it hoped to reopen them as soon as power is restored and repairs made over the next 24 to 48 hours.
Gasoline was sold out at many fuel stations in Florida and the storm also knocked out power to 3.4m homes and businesses.
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Hurricane Milton made landfall as a category 3 hurricane on Wednesday night at around 8.30pm near Siesta Key in Florida. For about eight hours, the storm brought intense rainfall, flooding, tornadoes, storm surge and strong winds before moving off over the ocean just north of Cape Canaveral as a category 1 hurricane.
Our visual team have put together this visual guide to the damage caused:
Trump 'playing politics' over Hurricanes Helene and Milton, says Harris
Vice-president Kamala Harris and the White House criticized Donald Trump for his attacks on the federal response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton and suggested he was wrongly trying to turn the deadly storms to his political advantage, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Attending a town hall sponsored by Univision in Las Vegas, Harris was asked about complaints that federal officials have bungled disaster recovery efforts. She responded: “In this crisis – like in so many issues that affect the people of our country – I think it so important that leadership recognises the dignity” to which people are entitled.
“I have to stress that this is not a time for people to play politics,” Harris added.
Those comments came after the former president spoke at the Detroit Economic Club, offering sympathy to people affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, the latter of which came ashore in Florida on Wednesday night. But Trump also suggested that the Biden administration’s response had been lacking, particularly in North Carolina after Helene.
“They’ve let those people suffer unjustly,” said Trump, who has for several days promoted falsehoods about the federal response, reports the AP.
Harris virtually attended a briefing, held in the White House situation room with president Joe Biden, on emergency efforts in Milton’s wake. In subsequent comments to reporters, Biden slammed Trump and his supporters for spreading misinformation about federal assistance available to victims.
“They’re being so damn un-American with the way they’re talking about this stuff,” Biden said, then adding directly to Trump: “Get a life, man. Help these people.”
Despite the storm, Trump and Harris are both visiting key swing states strategically, trying to increase support with key voting blocs who could decide an election expected to be exceedingly close.
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Here are some of the latest images coming through on the newswires:
Some Florida residents rode out Hurricane Milton despite evacuation orders, staying in their homes after the second major hurricane in two weeks.
Milton slammed into Florida as a category 3 storm, killing at least 16 people, spawning tornadoes and leaving more than 3m homes and businesses without power. Here, survivors of Hurricane Milton tell their stories:
Sarasota Bradenton International airport (SRQ) will remain closed today, it said on a social media post shared on Facebook.
The airport said:
SRQ is currently assessing conditions and beginning cleanup post Hurricane Milton.
SRQ remains closed today, October 10th, and tomorrow, October 11th, 2024.”
Hurricane Milton, the category 3 storm that battered many parts of Florida, displaced not only residents but also already vulnerable animals in shelters.
Shelters in the state, particularly in cities on the west coast such as Tampa, Sarasota and others, had to scramble to figure out where to relocate their animals ahead of this week’s storm. Luckily, rescue shelters in other parts of the country have joined in the effort to help those down south.
Sharon Hawa, an emergency services manager at Best Friends, a coalition of thousands of public and private shelters and rescue groups, said the need for animal adoptions and fostering is “critical” right now.
“We can make more space for more of these animals to come. Because we don’t know what the situation looks like right now on the ground, if any of the shelter facilities where these animals originated from are still standing and whether they’re going to be operational moving forward,” she said.
Whether on planes or in vans, Best Friends has been transporting nearly 200 animals in areas hit hard by Milton, and last month’s Hurricane Helene, to shelters with more capacity as far north as New York and Massachusetts – but it’s no easy effort.
“All animals have to be cleared by a veterinarian to travel, so they have to be healthy and in good shape so that they don’t run into any medical complications while in transit,” Hawa said.
“Kudos to all of the shelter staff everywhere, because they have to deal with so much on a day-to-day basis. And then when there’s a large-scale disaster like this, it certainly makes it even more challenging for them to do their job, especially when they’re not operating out of their primary facility and they have to work out of a evacuation shelter.”
Tural Ahmedzade, Lucy Swan, Anna Betts and Guardian visuals staff have created a visual guide to the damage caused by Hurricane Milton. You can explore the graphics, video and analysis here:
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Deaths expected to rise as Florida begins to assess Hurricane Milton destruction
Five fatalities were in a senior community in St Lucie county that was struck by a tornado formed in Milton’s outer bands, authorities there said. The tornado happened before the hurricane made landfall near Sarasota on Florida’s western coast on Wednesday evening.
The Volusia county sheriff, Michael Chitwood, said three people died in his county, and police in St Petersburg confirmed two storm-related deaths there.
Parts of Sarasota, Fort Myers, Venice and other Gulf coast cities were inundated by up to 10ft (3 metres) of storm surge while tornadoes wrecked buildings, including a sheriff’s department facility, the skies turned purple and winds as high as 120mph (193km/h) turned cars, trees and debris into projectiles.
“Our hearts break for the Floridians who have lost so much,” Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, said in an afternoon briefing from the White House.
Rescue operations were still under way into Thursday afternoon, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, said at a press briefing. Authorities had already rescued at least 340 people and 49 pets, DeSantis said, including a 14-year-old boy found floating in flood waters on a piece of fence.
A US Coast Guard crew rescued a man who was clinging to an ice chest in the Gulf of Mexico, about 30 miles (50km) off the coast, after his boat broke down before Milton made landfall.
#Breaking An @USCG Air Station Miami 65 helicopter crew rescued a man clinging to a cooler approximately 30 mi. off Longboat Key.
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) October 10, 2024
The man was taken to Tampa General Hospital for medical care.
Sector St. Pete lost communications w/ the man at approx. 6:45 p.m., Wed. #SAR pic.twitter.com/64wSHuRAeH
In Tampa, 135 people were rescued from an assisted living facility. The city’s police department also released video of officers rescuing multiple children from a house that was partially destroyed by a fallen tree.
You can read the full report by Richard Luscombe in Miami and Edward Helmore, here:
Hurricane Milton prevented Simon Forster, his wife and their two children from returning to Scotland as planned on Wednesday evening, reports the Associated Press (AP). Forster and his family spent an extra two days of their two-week vacation on the bustling International Drive in Orlando’s tourism district on Thursday.
Hurricanes seem to follow them since 2022’s Hurricane Ian kept them from returning to Scotland after another Orlando vacation. “Two extra days here, there are worse places we could be,” he told the AP.
Natasha Shannon and her husband, Terry, were just feeling lucky to be alive. Hurricane Milton peeled the tin roof off of their cinderblock home in their neighbourhood a few blocks north of the Manatee River, about a 45-minute drive south of Tampa.
She pushed him to leave as the storm barreled toward them on Wednesday night after he resisted evacuating their three-bedroom house where he grew up and where the couple lived with their three kids and two grandchildren. She believes the decision saved their lives, reports the AP.
They returned to find the roof of their home scattered in sheets across the street, the wooden beams of what was their ceiling exposed to the sky. Inside, fiberglass insulation hung down in shreds, their belongings soaked by the rain and littered with chunks of shattered drywall.
“It ain’t much, but it was ours. What little bit we did have is gone,” she said. “It’s gone.”
With shelters no longer available and the cost of a hotel room out of reach, they plan to cram into Terry Shannon’s mother’s house for now. After that, they are not sure.
“I don’t have no answers,” Natasha Shannon told the AP. “What is my next move? What am I going to do?”
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Millions without power in Florida as residents count cost of Milton
Florida residents are continuing to repair the damage from Hurricane Milton and figure out what to do next after the storm smashed through coastal communities and tore homes to pieces, flooded streets and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes.
There are conflicting reports about the number of deaths as a result of Hurricane Milton but US media reported between 11 and 16 dead with that total expected to grow. CBS News said on Thursday evening that the Florida department of law enforcement had confirmed to the publication that eight counties had reported 16 storm-related deaths to their agency.
Arriving just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene, the system knocked out power to more than 3 million customers, flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays’ baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane.
Many expressed relief that Hurricane Milton was not worse, reports the Associated Press (AP). The hurricane spared densely populated Tampa a direct hit, and the lethal storm surge that scientists feared never materialized.
The AP reports that a flood of vehicles headed south on Thursday evening on Interstate 75, the main highway that runs through the middle of the state, as relief workers and evacuated residents headed toward the aftermath. At times, some cars even drove on the left shoulder of the road. Bucket trucks and fuel tankers streamed by, along with portable bathroom trailers and a convoy of emergency vehicles, reports the AP.
As residents raced back to find out whether their homes were destroyed or spared, finding gas was still a challenge. Fuel stations were still closed as far away as Ocala, more than a two and a half hour drive north of where the storm made landfall as a category 3 storm near Siesta Key in Sarasota county on Wednesday night.
Orlando international airport, the state’s busiest, said departures for domestic flights and international flights would resume on Friday, after resuming domestic arrivals Thursday evening. The airport had minor damage, including a few leaks and downed trees.
Florida theme parks including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld planned to reopen on Friday after an assessment of the effects of the storm.
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