SIESTA KEY, Fla.—It has been three days since Hurricane Milton made landfall and recovery efforts are well underway.
Barrier islands along Florida’s Gulf Coast are reopening once again to residents, business owners, and the public. More than 2.6 million residents have had their power restored, schools are set to reopen on Monday, and fuel is being distributed.
“I think that we’re doing very well,” Holmes Beach Police Chief William Tokajer told The Epoch Times on Oct. 11. ”We have extra manpower here to help with law enforcement.”
Holmes Beach, a town on Anna Maria Island just south of the mouth of Tampa Bay, re-opened to residents and business owners on Oct. 12.
“We’ve got a mass force of law enforcement from other agencies that are here to help us,” he said. ”We’re going to be watching for looting. We’re going to be watching to see who comes out onto the island when we open up tomorrow. It’s not going to be for workers. It’s only going to be for business owners that have a hang tag and residents that have a hang tag or can show proper ID as to where they reside within Holmes Beach.”
Out-of-town assistance stationed at Holmes Beach City Hall included the Panama City Beach Police and the Texas A&M Forestry Service, and it represented the bulk of cooperation announced by DeSantis ahead of the storm. Starlink personnel were also present on the island.
Free Fuel, Debris Removal
DeSantis announced that free fuel distribution centers were being set up beginning on Oct. 12. The first three to open were in Bradenton, St. Petersburg, and Plant City. On Oct. 13, additional stations will be open in Port Charlotte, Sarasota, and other areas of Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.The ration is 10 gallons per vehicle.
“Although, you know, you have fuel flowing from Tampa Bay and our other ports outside of Manatee, you also have a lot of gas stations, and even if they have fuel, they may not be able to get the power back on,” he said during a press conference at the Bradenton fuel station on Oct. 12. “So we’ve taken on a fuel mission.”
The governor also announced that 43 of the 54 school districts are planning to reopen on Oct. 14.
“That was very generous and local governments utilize that,” DeSantis said. “Let’s get this debris moving.”
“That is not the norm in these storms, to be able to get 100 percent debris reimbursement for 90 days,” he said. “So take advantage.”
The governor was joined by Kevin Guthrie, executive director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, who further emphasized the need for quick debris removal.
“There’s no excuses,” he said. ”The governor and I have waived all of the statutes that are centered around this. I can direct, permit debris management sites, hours on trucking, driver hours, waived lengths and measures, weights and measures ... it’s a full-court press; 24/7, the next 90 days, let’s go get it and get after it.”
Guthrie also said the FEMA had already approved $200 million for the state’s pre-landfall emergency protective measures, and urged local and county officials to expedite their work to take advantage.
“The FEMA Administrator has been putting a lot of time and effort to make sure that those are prioritized and then we get those things done,” he said. “So I want to thank her for that cooperation.”
Biden recently said that damage from Hurricane Milton could reach $50 billion. He is scheduled to visit Florida on Oct. 13.
FEMA’s individual and public assistance in the major disaster declaration includes temporary housing and home repair grants, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs.
However, DeSantis said that most of the resources used for temporary housing will still be utilized for victims of Hurricane Helene.
“I would say 90 percent of the trailers that are going to be needed are going to be Helene, just from what I’ve seen ... yesterday and today,” he said on Oct. 11.
Helene Brought Surge, Milton Brought Wind and Rain
Milton made landfall around Siesta Key in Sarasota County after sunset on Oct. 9. While authorities confirm that Milton’s impacts on the Sunshine State were not as bad as they could have been, its destruction was still felt throughout the peninsula.Helene will be remembered for its record storm surge along the Gulf Coast. Milton will be remembered for its catastrophic winds and heavy rains of as much as 18 inches, which caused severe flash flooding.
Anthony Pallaria, 35, who owns Sea Shanty and Meaney’s Mini Donuts in Siesta Key Village, told The Epoch Times that the impacts from Hurricane Milton were not as bad as the storm surge from Hurricane Helene.
Helene put three and a half feet in his two shops while Milton only put three inches.
But, in terms of debris and destruction, he said Milton was worse for Siesta Key. Unlike areas further north, Milton’s winds picked up the debris left by Helene.
That lower storm surge was still noticeable, though, and pools of standing water were still seen among the vegetative and artificial shrapnel flooding streets around Siesta Key on Oct. 11.
Below the eye, more than five feet of storm surge was recorded in Naples, Ft. Myers, and Venice, but these numbers were far below expectations, according to the National Weather Service’s (NWS) Tampa Bay office.
Above the eye, severe winds whipped through Sarasota and the Tampa Bay area, ripping mobile homes to shreds and covering countless streets with impassible brush after removing leaves from their limbs, limbs from their trees, and trees from their very roots.
NWS Tampa Bay told The Epoch Times that winds of 103 mph were recorded on the Skyway Bridge, Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport recorded 102 mph, Albert Witten Airport in St. Petersburg recorded 101 mph, and Tampa International Airport recorded 97 mph.
Images of Tropicana Field’s roof—which was built to withstand 115 mph winds—ripped to shreds stands as a testament to the winds St. Petersburg endured the night of Oct. 9.
“I think that this was the strongest winds that I’ve seen in the 45 years that I’ve been policing,” Tokajer told The Epoch Times.
“I think a lot of our places held up better than I thought they would have, but we do have places with damage—even the police department has damaged to the roof,” he said.
Tied to the winds of Milton were concerns about the mountains of remaining debris left after Hurricane Helene. Despite the state’s best efforts to clear as much of that debris as possible, many communities still had debris lining the streets as Milton arrived.
Miraculously, that debris around the Tampa Bay area is still exactly where it was.
“It was shocking,” Tokajer said, clarifying that some debris was carried into the streets by flood water, but most stayed where it was. ”I was very happy.”
As of Oct. 12, more than 15 people are confirmed dead and more than 1.4 million are still without power in the state. Another million Verizon customers were reported to have no cell service as of Oct. 11.
Urban search and rescue teams and the Florida National Guard have rescued nearly 1,400 individuals and more than 140 animals since Milton made landfall.
Those rescues include approximately 426 people and 45 pets by the Florida Wildlife and Conservation Commission and partner agencies from flood waters in a Clearwater apartment complex, 111 senior citizens from two different assisted living facilities by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and 67 rescues by the Florida State Guard.
Rescue operations are still underway.
While Milton’s center hit the Gulf Coast, its outer bands deposited a record number of tornadoes in the central and eastern parts of the peninsula.
The National Weather Service confirmed nearly 100 tornado touchdowns across the state, and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said on Oct. 10 that 38 of those tornadoes caused “significant damage to a level that Floridians have not seen from tornadoes.”
At least four of the more than 15 confirmed storm-related fatalities were caused by one tornado in Port St. Lucie.
