Florida residents repaired damage from Hurricane Milton and cleaned up debris Friday after the storm smashed through coastal communities and tore homes to pieces, flooded streets and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes. At least 16 deaths are linked to the storm, officials told CBS News.
Gov. Ron DeSantis warned people to not let down their guard, however, citing ongoing threats to safety including downed power lines and flooded areas.
“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.”
Arriving just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene, the system flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays’ baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane. Dozens of rescues have been conducted across the area.
Tampa evacuee Lillian Bicart, 80, told “CBS Mornings” that flooding severely damaged her home.
“I have to sit down and think what I’m going to do, because I lose everything, everything too wet,” Bicart said. “I never think about this. This is a bad dream, very bad.”
Tornadoes also left a swath of damage across Central and Southern Florida.
Gerald Herbert / AP
“Even with the hurricanes, it’s never been this bad ever,” Jashanti Williams, whose family hid in the bathroom as the tornadoes ripped through the neighborhood, told “CBS Mornings.”
As residents assessed damage to their property, over 2 million customers in Florida remained without power Friday morning, according to Find Energy.
A flood of vehicles headed south Thursday evening on Interstate 75, the main highway that runs through the middle of the state, as relief workers and evacuated residents returned to assess the aftermath. Bucket trucks and fuel tankers streamed by, along with portable bathroom trailers and a convoy of emergency vehicles.
As residents tried to get 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 near Siesta Key in Sarasota County on Wednesday night.
Rebecca Blackwell / AP
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.”
Rebecca Blackwell / AP
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?”
Meanwhile, Florida theme parks including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld planned to reopen Friday after an assessment of the effects of the storm.
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.
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