AT LEAST 10 people are dead in Florida in the wake of Hurricane Milton, as rescuers begin to pick through the debris and damage scattered across the Sunshine State.
Rescuers were still saving people from swollen rivers yesterday, but many expressed relief the impact of the hurricane was not worse as it spared densely populated Tampa a direct hit and the lethal storm surge that scientists feared never materialised.
About 2.2 million homes remain without electricity across the state today.
St Petersburg’s 260,000 residents were told to boil water before drinking, cooking or brushing their teeth, until at least Monday.
The owner of a major phosphate mine disclosed that pollution spilt into Tampa Bay during the hurricane.
The Mosaic Company said in a statement yesterday that heavy rains from the storm overwhelmed a collection system at its Riverview site, pushing excess water out of a manhole and into discharges that lead to the bay. The company said the leak was fixed on Thursday.
Mosaic said the spill likely exceeded a 17,500-gallon minimum reporting standard, although it did not provide a figure for what the total volume might have been.
The state has 25 such stacks containing more than one billion tons of phosphogypsum, a solid waste byproduct of the phosphate fertilizer mining industry that contains radium, which decays to form radon gas. Both radium and radon are radioactive and can cause cancer.
Phosphogypsum may also contain toxic heavy metals and other carcinogens, such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury and nickel.
Florida’s vital tourism industry has started to return to normal as Walt Disney World and other theme parks reopened. The state’s busiest airport in Orlando resumed full operations yesterday.
State governor Ron DeSantis warned people to not let down their guard, citing ongoing safety threats including downed power lines and standing water that could hide dangerous objects.
“We’re now in the period where you have fatalities that are preventable,” Mr DeSantis said.
“You have to make the proper decisions and know that there are hazards out there.”
Arriving just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene, Milton flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane.
However, lessons have been learned since Helene hit a fortnight ago.
The city of Punta Gorda was hit by 2.4 metres worth of seawater, which flooded the city and saw 121 people requiring rescue by emergency services.
This time around, Punta Gorda mayor Lynne Matthews confirmed only three people needed help from floodwaters, which hit the 1.5-metre mark this time around
“People listened to the evacuation order,” she said.
Heaps of fruit were scattered across the ground and trees toppled over after both Milton and Hurricane Helene swept through Polk County and other orange-growing regions, Matt Joyner of trade group Florida Citrus Mutual said yesterday.
Milton arrived at the start of the orange growing season, so it is still too early to evaluate the full scope of the damage.
Florida has already seen orange production diminish over the years with the industry recovering from hurricanes of years past while also waging an ongoing battle against a deadly greening disease.
Milton could be the knockout punch for some growers, Mr Joyner said.
Crews from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office yesterday were assisting with rescues of people, including a 92-year-old woman, who were stranded in rising waters along the Alafia River.
In Pinellas County, deputies used high-water vehicles to shuttle people back and forth to their homes in a flooded Palm Harbor neighbourhood where waters continued to rise.
Animals were being saved, too. Cindy Evers helped rescue a large pig stuck in high water at a strip mall in Lithia, east of Tampa. She had already rescued a donkey and several goats after the storm.
“I’m high and dry where I’m at, and I have a barn and 9 acres,” Evers said, adding that she will soon start to work to find the animals’ owners.
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