TAMPA – This hurricane season has been a real kicker for Florida residents- and we still have over a month left to go. In recent weeks, Florida has been bombarded with multiple hurricanes. First it was Hurricane Helene, which made landfall as a category 4 hurricane in late September. Then, when Florida residents were just starting to breathe a sigh of relief, anotherhurricane, Hurricane Milton, came along just twelve days later. Milton made landfall as a category 3 storm and devastated Tampa Bay with its biting wind speeds and torrential rain. The storm toppled trees and power lines, ripped off roofs and caused rivers to overflow into homes. The damage caused by Milton left millions of Tampa Bay residents with power outages, some lasting up to a week.
“We lost power… we also lost access to our sewage system so we had no running water, no use of the toilets, sinks, showers, nothing could go down the drain.” said Deanna Yingling of Dover, “If you wanted to shower or wash your hair you had to take a sponge bath or wash your hair in a bucket.”
While the storm surge seen during Milton was not nearly as bad as the flooding that occurred during Hurricane Helene, Milton still flooded the streets and homes of many Tampa residents. Other areas overwhelmed by flooding and storm surge included parts of St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Fort Myers and Clearwater. Schools were cancelled for nearly a week in some areas as roads were too flooded to permit transportation. Residents in certain areas of the state were stuck in their homes or evacuation centers, waiting for help from local authorities to transport them through the underwater streets and to safer locations. Rescue workers were forced to utilize airboats, rafts, and specialized high-water rescue vehicles in order to reach stranded Floridians.
“We had 300 civilians rescued by the Florida State Guard after becoming stranded in their neighborhoods due to rising river flood waters here in Pasco,” said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, “Obviously, the sheriff’s department has made a lot of water rescues.”
In the days leading up to Milton’s arrival, many Florida residents were overcome with panic about the impending storm. While some residents who live in flood zones were ordered by the state to evacuate their homes, many other Floridians chose to leave- likely due to the anxiety over whether Milton would be the first storm in over a hundred years to make a direct hit on Tampa Bay. The mass evacuations caused a shortage of gas throughout the state, putting a halt on some residents’ evacuation plans. Those who chose to stay were busy boarding up their windows and stocking up on water, sandbags and nonperishable food items- which also led to limited supplies in many grocery stores.
“I was actually trying to evacuate,” said David Duncan, a Tampa resident who experienced the fuel shortage, “I had half a tank of gas and unable to make my evacuation route because I figured if we were already out of gas here then we would be out of gas on the road as well.”
Click on this link for ways you can help your neighbors recover from Hurricanes Helene and Milton: https://usfznews.com/after-milton-resources-and-ways-to-help-others/
