VENICE, Fla. (AP) — No sooner had residents of the Bahia Vista Gulf condominium complex dug out from Hurricane Helene than they were faced with the same daunting cleanup from new damage inflicted by Hurricane Milton.
The beachfront units had been gutted, treated and dried out after Hurricane Helene and mounds of sand that had blown in from the beach had been removed. Then, less than two weeks later, Hurricane Milton barreled in and undid all the progress.
“They’ve got to start the whole process over, cleaning, sanitizing, bringing in drying equipment, getting them all dried and prepped for renovations,” lamented Bill O’Connell, a board member at the complex in Venice, about an hour's drive south of Tampa. The second hurricane “brought all the sand back on our property.”
Some longtime Floridians have grown accustomed to the annual cycle of storms that can shatter and upend lives in a state known mostly for its balmy weather, sunshine and beaches.
“It’s the price you pay to live in paradise,” O’Connell said. “If you want to live here with this view, beautiful sunsets, be able to go out on your boat, enjoy what Florida has to offer, you have to be willing to accept that these storms are going to come."
A swath of the state still was coming to terms with damage from the unusual dual strike of storms in such close proximity. Many residents, some returning home after evacuating, spent much of Saturday searching for gas as a fuel shortage gripped the state.
President Joe Biden on Sunday surveyed the devastation inflicted on Florida’s Gulf Coast. After an aerial tour and a briefing, Biden said he was thankful the damage from Milton was not as severe as officials had anticipated. But he said it was still “cataclysmic” event for the people in the storm’s path.
Milton killed at least 11 people after it made landfall as a Category 3 storm, tearing across central Florida, flooding barrier islands and spawning deadly tornadoes. On Sunday, Lindsey Bayer, the director of operations in Citrus County’s district medical examiner’s office, confirmed a person had died after a tree-cutting accident.
Officials say the toll could have been worse if not for the widespread evacuations. Overall, more than a thousand people were rescued.
Disaster hits twice
In the fishing village of Cortez, a community of 4,100 southwest of Tampa, Catherine Praught said she and her husband, Mark, felt “pure panic” when Milton menaced Cortez so soon after Helene, forcing them to pause their cleanup and evacuate. Fortunately, their home wasn’t damaged by the second storm.
“This is where we live,” Catherine Praught said of their low-lying home of 36 years that had to be emptied, gutted and scrubbed after Helene. “We’re just hopeful we get the insurance company to help us.”
Residents of the community's modest, single-story wood and stucco-fronted cottages worked Saturday to remove broken furniture and tree limbs, stacking debris in the street much like they did after Helene.
A similar scene was found in Steinhatchee, west of Gainseville, where piles of debris lined the streets.
Melissa Harden lives less than a block from a restaurant and neighborhood bar that were reduced to rubble. Her house is on 16-foot (4.9-meter) pilings, but 4 feet (1.2 meters) of water flooded in. When Milton was forecast, she feared Steinhatchee would be hit by the third hurricane in 14 months.
“Personally, I thought, if it comes, we’re already evacuated and our home is pretty messed up,” she said as friends and relatives helped with the cleanup, removing bathroom fixtures and pulling out damaged boards. “Of course we didn’t want it! No more storms!”
Moody’s Analytics on Saturday estimated economic costs from the storm will range from $50 billion to $85 billion, including upwards of $70 billion in property damage and an economic output loss of up to $15 billion.
Storm cleanup intensifies
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that the state was shifting nearly 3,000 workers toward debris removal as the recovery picks up steam.
“We’ve got a lot of work left to do, but I think the debris mission is something that is important,” DeSantis said during a news conference in Treasure Island, a city on a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico that has been battered by both recent hurricanes.
DeSantis cautioned that debris removal could take up to a year but said the state would try to make as much progress as possible because President Joe Biden has approved of 100% reimbursements for that effort during that time.
“The (removal of) debris has to be 24/7 over this 90-day period,” DeSantis said while speaking next to a pile of furniture, lumber and other debris. “That’s the way you get the job done.”
The state has also worked to ease a fuel shortage that has resulted in long lines at gas stations. DeSantis announced nine sites where residents can get 10 gallons (37.8 liters) each for free.
Less than 800,000 Floridians were still without power Sunday afternoon, according to Poweroutage.us.
Rivers could still rise
Florida received 3.4 trillion gallons (12.87 trillion liters) of rainfall from Milton, according to Ryan Maue, a private meteorologist and former chief scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He calculated that 20 trillion gallons (75.7 trillion liters) fell from Helene onto Georgia, Tennessee, the Carolinas and Florida.
National Weather Service meteorologist Paul Close said rivers will “keep rising" for the next several days and result in flooding, mostly around Tampa Bay and northward. Those areas were hit by the most rain, which comes on top of a wet summer that included several hurricanes.
“You can't do much but wait,” Close said of the rivers cresting. “At least there is no rain in the forecast, no substantial rain.”
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Farrington reported from St. Petersburg, Florida. Associated Press journalists contributing from Florida included Chris O'Meara in Lithia, Curt Anderson in Tampa, Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Terry Spencer outside of Fort Lauderdale and Stephany Matat in Fort Pierce. Rebecca Santana in Washington, D.C., contributed.
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The spelling of Gainseville has been corrected from Gainsville.
Russ Bynum, Brendan Farrington And Ty O'neil, The Associated Press
