Fatshimetrie—
The devastating aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton continues to reverberate across Florida, leaving a landscape of destruction and a daunting challenge for residents who are now faced with the task of cleaning up. However, many are unable to do so due to a lack of power and fuel.
Roads blocked by downed trees and flooding are making it difficult for fuel suppliers and power companies to restore the infrastructure they need to survive. Police are also helping with recovery efforts by escorting fuel trucks to reach those most in need.
President Joe Biden has announced that he will travel to Florida to assess the damage caused by the hurricane. He will take an aerial tour to view the hardest-hit areas, meet with first responders and speak in St. Petersburg on Sunday morning.
Here’s the latest:
• Gas stations out of fuel: Nearly 30% of gas stations in the state are currently out of fuel, according to monitoring site GasBuddy.com. In the hard-hit Tampa-St. Petersburg area, more than three-quarters of stations, or 77%, are out of fuel. In the Sarasota area, that number is 62%. Around Fort Myers and Naples, 42% of stations are out of fuel, while in Orlando, it’s 35%. More than 37.3 million gallons of fuel have been unloaded at Florida ports, according to Kevin Guthrie, director of the state Division of Emergency Management. Gov. Ron DeSantis said, “We have 25 Florida Highway Patrol escorts right now to escort the tanker trucks from the port, and they’re being brought in to fill up the gas stations.” Three public fueling sites in Plant City, Bradenton and St. Petersburg have opened, allowing customers to receive 10 gallons of free fuel. The governor announced new sites opening Sunday in Charlotte, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.
• Power is being restored: As of early Sunday, just over 1 million people were still without power statewide, down from nearly 3 million at the peak of the outage. Crews across the country are working to reconnect homes and businesses to the grid. Power companies estimate that the majority of residents will have power restored by midweek.
• St. Petersburg has fueling and charging stations: The city of St. Petersburg. Petersburg has set up temporary stations to help residents in need, offering opportunities to charge phones and pick up essential items like bottled water, batteries and tarps. The city remains in an unsafe water condition due to multiple water main breaks, and 25 crews are working the streets to pick up debris. “We’ve had two storms in less than two weeks. This is unprecedented from a debris standpoint, but our top priority remains cleaning up our city and getting back to some normalcy,” said Mike Jefferis, the city’s enrichment administrator.
• President Biden approves major disaster declaration: President Joe Biden on Saturday approved a major disaster declaration for the state, according to FEMA. “Federal disaster assistance is available to the State of Florida to supplement recovery efforts in areas impacted by Hurricane Milton” beginning Oct. 5, the agency said. Biden’s approval makes funds available to residents in more than 30 counties impacted by Milton, the statement said. Those funds include grants for temporary housing and home repairs.
Flooding continues to slow recovery
Flooding issues continue to be a major challenge after Milton dumped 16 inches of rain on Hillsborough County, hampering the storm’s recovery phase, according to Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister. “The water is not receding as quickly as we would like, which is making the healing and recovery process take longer,” he said.
Meanwhile, the National Weather Service’s Tampa Bay office maintained flood warnings Saturday for rivers in Hillsborough, Sarasota and Manatee counties, as well as several other locations, with some in effect “until further notice,” according to the weather service.
The Alafia River in Lithia, Florida, and the Hillsborough River, both in the Tampa area, were still in major flooding early Sunday.
A CNN crew toured the Valrico neighborhood in Hillsborough County with the sheriff’s office Saturday and found widespread flooding across several blocks, leaving front yards and garages submerged. Some residents told them they had never seen flooding this severe in their decades of living in the area.
Chronister also said Saturday that Hillsborough County crews had made more than 300 rescues in 48 hours, adding that crews were working around the clock.
Drivers seek relief from fuel shortage
Dozens of Florida drivers, likely out of gas for days, lined up outside gas stations Saturday in hopes of filling their tanks and cans as shortages persist in hard-hit areas of the state. Some said they had to rely on word of mouth to find out which stations had fuel. Aerial footage Saturday morning showed long lines of drivers crowding both sides of a Thorntons gas station in Oldsmar, Pinellas County.
One line, at least 20 drivers deep, stretched across the i