Authors: Julio Cortez, Kate Payne and Haven Daly
British stone. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Rescue teams emerged from the rubble of Hurricane Milton on Thursday as it ripped through coastal communities, tearing homes to shreds, filling streets with mud and triggering a string of deadly tornadoes. Rescued Florida residents. At least eight people died.
Just two weeks after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc, the system knocked out power to more than 3 million customers, flooded barrier islands, ripped off the roof of a baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane.
One of the most high-profile rescues was when Hillsborough County officials found a 14-year-old boy floating on a fence and pulled him aboard. A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued a man in the Gulf of Mexico who was stuck on an ice chest on his fishing boat in waters churned by Hurricane Milton. The agency estimated the man survived winds of 75 to 90 mph (121 to 145 kilometers per hour) and waves as high as 25 feet (7.6 meters) while on the water at night.
“This man would have survived a nightmare scenario for even the most experienced sailor,” said Coast Guard Cmdr. Dana Grady said.
Despite the destruction, many were relieved that things weren't getting worse in Milton. The hurricane spared Tampa a direct hit, and the deadly storm surge scientists feared never materialized.
The storm moved southward in the final hours and made landfall on Wednesday night on Siesta Key, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Tampa, as a Category 3 hurricane. The damage is widespread and water levels may continue to rise for days, but Gov. Ron DeSantis said it was not the “worst case scenario.”
“It's not easy to face two hurricanes in a matter of weeks, but I'm seeing a lot of resilience across the state,” the governor said at a news conference in Sarasota. He said he was “very confident.” Confidence that the sector will rebound very, very quickly.”
A tornado at Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce on Florida's Atlantic coast killed five people and destroyed homes, authorities said. Police also found a woman dead under a fallen tree branch in Tampa.
In Volusia County, authorities said two people were killed when a tree fell on a house, a 79-year-old woman in Ormond Beach and a 54-year-old woman in Port Orange.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told a White House press briefing that up to 10 people were reportedly killed by the tornado, but he cautioned that the number was tentative.
DeSantis said Thursday afternoon that at least 340 people and 49 pets have been rescued in ongoing efforts.
South of Tampa, Natasha Ducre and her husband, Terry, felt lucky after a hurricane ripped the tin roof off their cinder-block home in Palmetto Still alive. They spent the night in a shelter with their three children and two grandchildren after she forced them to leave.
“I said, 'Baby, we have to go. Because we're not going to survive this,'” she said.
They returned to find the roof across the street torn to shreds, broken insulation hanging from exposed ceiling beams and their belongings soaked.
“It's not much, but it's ours,” she said. “What little we had is gone.”
The worst storm surge appeared to be in Sarasota County, where surge heights were 8 to 10 feet (2.5 to 3 meters), lower than the worst during Helen. The storm also dropped up to 18 inches (45 centimeters) of rain in some areas.
Officials in Florida's hardest-hit Hillsborough, Pinellas, Sarasota and Lee counties urged people to stay home and warned of downed power lines, road trees, blocked bridges and flooding.
One of the dozens of tornadoes struck the small barrier island of Matlacha near Fort Myers. The fishing and tourist village also suffered a surge, with many of its colorful buildings severely damaged. Tom Reynolds, 90, spent the morning clearing 4 feet (1.2 meters) of mud and water and collecting chunks of aluminum siding torn off by the tornado, which also tore up a car and threw it across the street.
Elsewhere on the island, a house was blown into the street, temporarily blocking it. Some buildings were on fire. Reynolds said he plans to restore the home, which was built three decades ago.
“What else am I going to do?” he said.
By contrast, city crews on Anna Maria Island were thankful they didn't have a flood to pick up debris Thursday morning, two weeks after Helen destroyed buildings and blew up piles of sand up to 6 feet (1.8 m) high. There are two weeks. Jeremy Roberts of the state emergency response team said the accumulation may have helped protect homes from further damage.
“I'm shocked there's not more,” city worker Katie Sands said as she cleared the street of siding and broken street lights. “We have lost so much Helen and so little is left.”
Helene flooded streets and homes in western Florida, killing at least 230 people in the southern region. In many places along the coast, municipalities raced to collect and dispose of debris before Milton's high winds and storm surge could sweep it up and cause more damage.
Most of the state was without power. More than 3.4 million homes and businesses were without power, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.
High winds tore the roof fabric to shreds at Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team, in St. Petersburg. The fields were strewn with debris.
About 80,000 people spent the night in shelters and thousands more fled after authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders in 15 Florida counties with a total population of about 7.2 million.
In Punta Gorda, a 10-foot (3-meter) wave from the Peace River swept through a historic district, damaging homes and depositing six boats on a riverside street. This is the third influx into the community in three months.
Josh Baldwin said he would rather scrap his 38-foot (11.6-meter) boat than pay $100,000 to restore it. He couldn't get insurance because it was anchored in Punta Gorda.
“They don't like paying, and the place is always destroyed in hurricanes,” he said.
Half a block away, information technology workers Kent and Cathy Taylor and their son were using an SUV with a chain to unload the ground floor of the three-story home they purchased in July. Waterlogged drywall pulled out. The lower level has been destroyed, but the upper structure remains intact.
“It's going to be beautiful again – it's just a gap,” Kathy Taylor said.
Milton entered the Atlantic Thursday afternoon as a post-tropical cyclone with winds of 75 mph (120 kph) – barely hurricane force.
Earlier Thursday, Police Chief John Cosby breathed a sigh of relief as he crossed the bridge from the mainland to Anna Maria Island. Almost all residents have been evacuated. There were no casualties and the predicted storm surge did not occur. After fears his police department would be overwhelmed, it stayed dry.
“It's nice to have a place to come back to,” he said.
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This article was first published on October 10, 2024. They were Natasha and Terry Dukeley, not Shannon. Previously corrected to remove incorrect reference to 150 tornadoes. Scientists say it's too early to know how many tornadoes occurred.
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Payne and Daley reported from Palmetto, Florida. Associated Press reporters Holly Ramer and Kathy McCormack in New Hampshire; Terry Spencer in Matlacha, Florida; Stephany Matat in Fort Pierce, Florida; Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale; Michael Goldberg in Minneapolis; Joshua Bock in Washington; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Adam in New York Geller contributed to this report.
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