ELLENTON, Fla. – Florida counties hard hit by Hurricane Milton are returning to a semblance of normalcy, with power restored to most areas on Monday, gas stations reopening and students preparing to return to school.
Still, some neighborhoods remained without power, with many severely damaged homes and businesses, their streets flooded and filled with debris.
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But on the whole, things were looking up.
Florida power companies had restored electricity to about 93% of the 3.4 million homes and businesses that lost service after Milton made landfall late Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane south of Tampa, smacking the region with 120 mph (205 kph) winds and a storm surge of up to 10 feet (3 meters).
At least 11 people died less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene inflicted major damage in Florida and other Southeastern states. The death toll from Helene is more than 240.
The three major power companies in the area hit by Milton deployed thousands of workers to quickly repair lines, poles and other infrastructure.
“I know those guys got in and started working as soon as it was possible,” Gov. Ron DeSantis told a Monday news conference at SeaPort Manatee, just south of Tampa Bay. He said the recovery has been “very rapid and we appreciate what they’ve been able to do.”
Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy and TECO Energy also credited efforts over the last decade to put more power lines underground, install stronger utility poles and adopt technology that enables electricity to be rerouted around damaged equipment.
Areas that remain flooded will be the last to get power, and homes with damaged electrical systems won’t be able to receive it, the companies said.
“Electricity and water don’t mix, so we cannot reenergize until the water has receded to ensure the safety of those customers,” Duke spokesperson Ana Gibbs said.
Gerome Ozias was startled Sunday night when power came back after four days to his home in Palmetto, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Tampa. He had been prepared to wait much longer. As he sat on his shaded front porch Monday with his daughter and another relative, air conditioning units hummed from several windows.
“I’m surprised, but I’m happy, too.” said Ozias, who emigrated from Haiti nearly three decades ago. With power for his refrigerator, he replaced the food that had spoiled.
Lines are mostly gone at gas stations. DeSantis said about 12 million gallons (45 million liters) of fuel was brought in over the four days since the storm. That helped replenish stations that ran out of gas before Milton arrived. The state has also opened a dozen sites in the Tampa Bay area where it is giving away about 2 million gallons of fuel.
According to the fuel tracking website and app GasBuddy, about half of the Tampa Bay area's gas stations had fuel on Monday afternoon. On Friday, less than a quarter did.
Indicative of the improved conditions was a line at a Palmetto car wash, where David Washington used a towel to dry and buff his now-sparkling blue Ford F-150. The pickup had been spattered with mud from driving through soggy areas as Washington checked on relatives after the two storms.
“You clean your car and get inside, it just makes you feel so much better,” said Washington, a lifelong Floridian.
Most school districts in the hardest-hit areas plan to reopen campuses Wednesday, though Manatee County plans to reopen its schools on Tuesday. In Hillsborough County, which contains Tampa, schools held cleanup events on Monday.
“We had school staff, families and other volunteers out cleaning up debris on the campus. It was an amazing show of community,” district spokesperson Tanya Arja said. About a third of the district’s 304 schools remain without power and a dozen still have standing water, she said.
DeSantis has cautioned that debris removal from Helene and Milton could take up to a year, even as Florida shifts nearly 3,000 workers to the cleanup. The federal government has approved 100% federal reimbursement for those efforts for 90 days.
Including damage done by Helene in other states, Moody’s estimates that combined privately insured losses for the two storms range between $35 billion and $55 billion. That’s only insured loss, and doesn’t include the federal flood insurance program.
Unlike Ozias’ neighborhood, Chuck Porter’s neighborhood in nearby Ellenton remained without power Monday afternoon.
A snapped power pole was still lying across the yard of a nearby home. A large, uprooted tree still pinned down power lines near the neighborhood entrance. Utility crew trucks passed without stopping, since they couldn’t do any repair work yet.
Still, Porter, a retiree who has lived in the community nearly 70 years, wasn’t complaining. Porter and his wife, Nancy, were staying with their daughter nearby. His power company says his service should be restored by Wednesday night, but even a little delay won’t bother him.
“By the end of the week, we’ll be fine,” Porter said.
On Monday, the Porters were still cleaning out their home, which flooded knee-deep and got swamped with muck when Helene struck more than two weeks ago.
It was Milton’s winds that knocked out power lines to the neighborhood and ripped shingles from Porter’s roof. But the wind damage to his home was minimal. The Key West-style bar he built himself in the backyard survived intact, with its neon signs and displays of hanging baseball bats and guitar-shaped bottle openers undisturbed.
Still, the water damage inside was extensive. He was replacing his air-conditioner, refrigerator and other appliances.
“Salt water just destroys everything,” Porter said. “Any light sockets that got wet, they’ll have to rip them out.”
And many of his neighbors had it worse he said: Homes one street closer to the river flooded with sewage.
“It’s going to be like this for six months or more” before all the storm damage gets repaired, he said. “Insurance pays for it. It’s just time-consuming.”
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Anderson reported from St. Petersburg. AP writers Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale and Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee contributed to this report.