Hurricane Milton live updates: Biden visits hard-hit communities in Florida as power outages continue in Tampa
Forecasters have warned that the threat of dangerous flooding will remain in place for days or even weeks
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President Joe Biden is visiting Florida today to tour communities impacted by Hurricane Milton.
During the visit, the president is expected to announce more than $600m in funding for projects for electric grid resilience, to help the state become better equipped to deal with future storms.
With the storm also impacting fuel delivery, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced the state is also offering free gasoline at state fuel depots.
So far, at least 17 people have been confirmed dead as a result of Hurricane Milton, which made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday night, spawning dozens of tornadoes, 28ft waves, strong winds, heavy rainfall, and devastating storm surge.
Six people in St Lucie County retirement village were killed by tornadoes brought on by the hurricane after a dozen twisters spawned in the region within 20 minutes.
While Floridians return home to survey the damage to their communities, officials are warning that major flooding could still hit north of Tampa.
As of Sunday morning, more than 900,000 homes were still without power in Florida, with those in the west-central region the worst impacted. Damage from the storm is estimated to have cost upwards of $160bn.
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Pictures: Biden visits Florida to inspect hurricane damage
Biden announces $612m funding for projects
Biden has announced $612m funding for projects for electric grid resilience, to help prepare for future major storms.
The $612m will be spent on six new cutting-edge projects to support communities.
This includes $94m for projects specifically in Florida, including $47m to Gainesville Regional Utilities and $47m to Switched Source to partner with Florida Power and Light.
‘We are one United States’ : Biden speaks of united response to Hurricane Milton
Biden spoke of Americans coming together in response to Hurricane Milton.
“Moments like this we come together to take care of each other – not as Democrats or Republicans but as Americans,” he said.
“Americans who need help, Americans who would help you if you were in a similar situation. We are one United States. One United States.”
Biden delivers remarks in St. Pete Beach, Florida
Biden is delivering remarks in St. Pete Beach, Florida, after surveying the damage caused by Hurricane Milton.
The president pointed out that this was the second time in two weeks that he had visited the state in response to two separate “catastrophic” storms.
“Thankfully it was not as cataclysmic as predicted,” Biden said of Milton.
However, he said that many Floridiana had lost their homes and that he had spoken with homeowners who are “heartbroken and exhausted” while also facing “expenses [are] racking up.”
Live: Biden visits Florida after Hurricane Milton
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Speaker Mike Johnson says hurricane aid ‘can wait'
House Speaker Mike Johnson has claimed that hurricane aid “can wait” until Congress is back in session after the November election.
Several lawmakers – including Republicans – have called for lawmakers to be brought back to session early in order to pass legislation to provide additional funding to those impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Johnson has refused.
The Republican appeared on CBS News’s Face The Nation on Sunday where he was asked why he thinks it can wait.
“Well, it can wait because, remember, the day before Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida and then went up through the states and wound up in Senator Tillis’ state of North Carolina, Congress appropriated 20 billion additional dollars to FEMA so that they would have the necessary resources to address immediate needs,” he said.
900k still without power in Florida
Four days after Milton smashed into Florida as a Category 3 hurricane, more than 900,000 homes are still in the dark.
As of around 11am ET Sunday morning, 944,000 customers were without power in the Sunshine State, according to Poweroutage.us.
In hard-hit Pinellas County, around half were still in the midst of a power outage (281,000 out of 567,000 customers).
Biden is visiting Florida today to tour areas impacted by Hurricane Milton
President Joe Biden is visiting Florida today to tour areas impacted by Hurricane Milton.
The president will make a first stop in hard-hit Tampa, before taking an aerial tour of affected areas en route to St. Petersburg, Florida.
After, the White House said Biden will receive an operational briefing with federal, state, and local officials, in St. Pete Beach before meeting with first responders and local residents.
Biden will then deliver remarks where he is expected to announce more than $600m in funding for projects for electric grid resilience, to help the state be better equipped to deal with future storms.
A very different view of Milton — from space
Before Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, astronauts board the International Space Station got a view of it from space.
Here’s a time lapse from NASA’s Matthew Dominick.
Back-to-back storms leaves Siesta Key resident with ‘PTSD'
A Tennessee couple who relocated to Florida’s Siesta Key during the pandemic says since 2020 they’ve had to endure constant flooding since.
Lance and Nichol Fountaine told USA Today their home has flooded six times in 14 months, most recently with Hurricane Milton.
“I’m done,” Nichol said. “I love it, I’ll visit it but I don’t want to live it anymore.”
“We can’t keep throwing money into it and expecting different results,” she added, calling it the “definition of insanity.”
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