Joe Biden said on Friday that experts estimate that Hurricane Milton caused a staggering $50bn in damage. The US president is scheduled to travel to Florida on Sunday to visit areas where the huge storm roared across the state after making landfall late on Wednesday.
Authorities were urgently assessing the aftermath of the deadly storm, which spawned tornadoes ahead of slamming into central Florida and then tearing about 175 miles (280km) across land, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, with loss of life and then leaving destroyed homes and streets blocked with downed power lines, fallen trees and debris.
At least 16 people have been killed by the storm, according to the Tampa Bay Times and recovery efforts continue, meaning the numbers could rise.
Millions in central Florida was still reeling on Friday even though the worst fears about this monster storm were not realized and it entered and exited the state much faster than initially expected.
The hurricane made landfall less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene hit north-west Florida and stayed over land as a tropical storm, with an unexpectedly high death toll of 230 people, the highest since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, and brought damage from flooding and high winds to 10 states.
Milton’s powerful and destructive weather system, which produced dozens of tornadoes in Florida on Wednesday, wrecked an estimated 150 homes, knocked out power to more than 3.3 million customers, swept over barrier islands with 6ft of storm surge, ripped the roof off a baseball stadium and toppled a 500ft construction crane.
About 2 million residents were still without power on Friday afternoon.
A 14-year-old boy was found floating on a piece of fence and a coast guard helicopter crew rescued a man floating on an ice chest separated from his boat in the Gulf of Mexico – “a nightmare scenario for even the most experienced mariner”, according to rescuers.
But Milton, which wobbled 70 miles south from where it was expected to make landfall, did not deliver the scale of destruction that authorities feared. Mass evacuations undoubtedly lowered the death toll after Milton whipped up into a category 5 hurricane as it swiped Mexico, slowed a little, accelerated again as it crossed the Gulf and finally hit Florida as a category 3.
Tampa was spared a direct hit, and a feared 15ft storm surge never materialized, as it came ashore at Siesta Key, a barrier island sheltering southern Sarasota from the Gulf of Mexico and normally known for its beautiful sandy beaches and sparkling waters.
The worst storm surge appeared to be in Sarasota county, where it reached 8-10ft – lower than in the worst place during Helene. But the 18in of rain that fell in some areas is still causing flooding. Causeway bridges and airports have reopened and people are returning to see what is left of their homes. Some are sound, some destroyed, some filled with sand from the sea surge.
Some fuel shortages for vehicles were still being reported. Many had struggled to find somewhere to fill up while evacuating and now people are trying to get back home. Statewide, 29% of gas stations were without fuel with that percentage rising to 73% in the Tampa and St Petersburg area, according to Gasbuddy.
The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, said it was not “the worst-case scenario”. He said he was “very confident that this area is going to bounce back very, very quickly”.
Milton’s fatalities included five people killed by tornadoes in the Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce, on Florida’s Atlantic coast and a woman killed by a fallen tree branch in Tampa. Two more women were killed by fallen trees in Volusia county.
Biden said that his government was “providing all the resources needed” to deal with the storm’s damage and he thanked the first responders, power line workers, state and local officials, and other workers and volunteers who are helping with recovery efforts.
The federal authorities have said there are enough resources to deal with Milton and Helene but money might run out before the end of the hurricane season, which can run until the end of November.
Biden on Friday stated that he will make a request to the US Congress for more funds.
But Milton’s cost is also being calculated in political terms, setting off a fierce round of accusations between political candidates in next month’s national elections.
The vice-president, Kamala Harris, and the White House criticized the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, for his attacks on the federal response to hurricanes Helene and Milton and suggested he was trying to turn the deadly storms to his political advantage.
“In this crisis – like in so many issues that affect the people of our country – I think it so important that leadership recognises the dignity [of those affected],” Harris, the Democratic party nominee for president after Biden dropped his re-election bid in July, said at a town hall in Las Vegas on Thursday night. “I have to stress that this is not a time for people to play politics,” she added.
The vice-president’s comments came after Trump suggested the Biden administration’s response had been lacking and planned in partisan ways that caused Republican voters be abandoned and left “Americans to drown”, particularly in North Carolina after Helene. “They’ve let those people suffer unjustly,” he said. His comments have received bipartisan criticism, including from some local and state Republican leaders in affected areas.
Biden called the Republican election campaign “so damn un-American with the way they’re talking about this stuff” and added directly to Trump: “Get a life, man.”
And on Friday afternoon at the White House, when asked by reporters if Trump was singularly to blame for the disinformation, Biden said: “No, he’s just got the biggest mouth.”
Meteorologists tracking Milton have been beset by conspiracy theories that they are controlling the weather, even by using a nuclear explosion, and have faced death threats.
“I’ve never seen a storm garner so much misinformation, we have just been putting out fires of wrong information everywhere,” said the CBS meteorologist Katie Nickolaou. She added: “Murdering meteorologists won’t stop hurricanes. I can’t believe I just had to type that.”
