On Thursday, rescue operations began in Florida as officials assessed the damage caused by Hurricane Milton. The storm had crossed the state over night and left millions of people without electricity.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Thursday that state search and recovery teams had rescued 340 people out of torrential flooding and from destroyed buildings. Homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed that ten people were killed.
The Tampa Bay region was spared from the devastating storm surge that was feared. However, Sarasota County – where Milton landed as a Category 3 storm – experienced a storm surge up to 10 foot in some places.
DeSantis stated, “We can say that the storm was significant but it was not the worst case scenario.” Jane Castor, the mayor of Tampa, said that “avoiding the storm surge” was one of the city’s blessings. She said, “That saved quite a bit.”
Fitch, a credit rating agency, estimates that Milton’s insurance losses are between $30bn and $50bn. Tampa and St Petersburg, which are densely populated, avoided the worst-case scenario for flooding. This saved them between $5bn and $10bn on flood insurance payouts.
Burgess said that his company sold a record amount of flood insurance policies before Milton arrived. He said that “it’s sad” that people have to wait for events like this in order to be aware of flood risk.
The wind was Milton’s real story. “Our Tropicana [sports stadium] has lost its roof,” said Biden. The homeowners insurance market will be affected by this, as well as the flood insurance industry.
Biden stated that although the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “has everything it needs”, Small Business Administration, the agency which provides aid to local businesses, is “pretty close to the edge right now”. Congress will not return to Washington before the presidential election on November 5.
Biden reiterated that he was critical of the former president Donald Trump, who spread misinformation regarding federal aid efforts. Biden responded to reporters by saying: “Mr. former President Trump.” When asked if he planned to speak directly to Trump, Biden turned his attention to the camera. Get a life, man.”
As the storm passed over the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday afternoon, its wind speed had dropped to 75mph. Milton was reclassified into a posttropical cyclone. According to PowerOutage.us which tracks utility reports throughout the United States, more than 2.9mn Florida homes and businesses had no power at 6.30pm local on Thursday.
FlightAware, a tracking service for airlines, reported that more than 2,000 flights were cancelled in the US because of the storm. Most of these flights connected to Orlando, Tampa Palm Beach, Miami, and Southwest Florida International Airport.
According to Erick Gill, the county spokesperson, four deaths have been recorded following tornadoes that formed in St Lucie County on Florida’s East Coast. There was no mandatory evacuation order for the county. He said, “We didn’t expect to see as much tornado activity as we did yesterday.”
Milton is the second storm to hit the south of the US within a week. This comes after hurricane Helene wrecked havocacross a number of south-eastern US states last month. More than 225 people were killed and roads in western North Carolina were destroyed.
Citigroup economists estimated that the impact of hurricane Helene alone would likely drag down the monthly job growth by at least 10s of thousands positions. This number could rise to over 100,000 when combined with Hurricane Milton’s aftermath.
Gregory Daco is the chief economist of EY. He said Milton could have an “notable” impact on economic activity. It may reduce inflation-adjusted growth in GDP by up to 0.4 percentage points during the fourth quarter.
Tourism, construction, retail, and energy are the industries that have been most affected. He said that Hurricane Milton would leave behind a trail of destruction.
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