Hurricane Milton caused significant damage in Florida, but the worst was avoided, officials say

In the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, 16 deaths have been reported and millions are without power. Many residents whose homes were damaged are still assessing how they will recover from the losses.
Although damage is widespread, the storm’s impact could have been much worse. Milton weakened to a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall Wednesday night near Siesta Key in Sarasota County.
“The storm did bring much destruction and damage,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Thursday, per Politico. “The storm was significant, but thankfully this was not the worst case scenario.”
Hurricane Milton follows closely after Hurricane Helene, which hit two weeks earlier. Helene impacted less populated areas of Florida, but Milton caused more damage by striking the state’s west coast and moving across the peninsula.
The storm triggered a series of issues for Florida, including tornadoes, flooding, 100 mph winds, power outages and gas shortages.
Thirty tornadoes have been reported across the state, per CNN. The National Weather Service issued more than 125 warnings in Tampa Bay, Melbourne and Miami, surpassing the previous record of 69 warnings during Hurricane Irma in 2017.
St. Lucie County was hit by nine of those tornadoes.
“We’ve never seen anything like that before,” Port St. Lucie Mayor Shannon Martin told CNN. “I know I’ve never seen anything like that before in almost 20 years that I’ve been here.”
Milton also led to significant flooding. The storm dropped record rainfall, prompting ongoing rescue efforts, including the evacuation of at least 135 people from an assisted living facility.
The Weather Channel reported that Tampa received over 11 inches of rain in a single day, breaking a 100-year record. St. Petersburg and Tampa saw waist-high water levels in some areas.
Power outages remain a major issue. Millions lost electricity during the storm, and efforts to restore power to 2 million people are still ongoing.
Fuel shortages are also complicating recovery efforts. According to Fox Business, around 2,000 gas stations — about 25% of the total in the state — are without fuel, making it difficult for residents to return to assess storm damage.
As Florida begins its recovery, airports and amusement parks like Disney World are reopening, and state officials are planning the next steps in providing relief to those still affected by the storm.
According to a statement by the governor’s office, search and rescue efforts are ongoing. Urban search and rescue teams and the Florida National Guard have rescued more than 1,200 individuals and over 140 animals.
The state has partnered with companies like Uber and Lyft to provide free rides to evacuees returning from shelters in areas where mandatory evacuation orders were issued.
More than 6,500 National Guard members are assisting in recovery efforts, with reinforcements from other states expected to increase that number to 7,300. These troops are involved in search and rescue, humanitarian assistance, route clearing, infrastructure protection, flood mitigation and high-wheeled vehicle support.
Infrastructure assessments and repairs are also underway. According to officials, 12,000 miles of roads have been cleared of debris, 2,000 bridges have been inspected, and 75% of traffic signals have been restored to operation.
“You face two hurricanes in a couple of weeks — not easy to go through — but I’ve seen a lot of resilience throughout this state,” DeSantis said, per Politico.
“When you’re a Floridian, you kind of just know that these are things that can happen and you roll with it and you just kind of deal with it,” the governor continued. “I’ve seen a lot of grit, I’ve seen a lot of determination and I’m very confident that this area is going to bounce back very, very quickly.”