Death toll rises to 16

As authorities in Florida worked to restore power to more than two million homes and businesses in the wake of Hurricane Milton, flooding remained inundated in some communities Friday as residents rescued belongings from damaged homes.

Milton made landfall Wednesday evening as a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 120 miles per hour before cutting a path of destruction across the state, inundating coastal and inland communities with rain and storm surges, while its strong winds caused power outages and large sailboats Front gardens hurled.

Milton triggered a deadly tornado outbreak that killed at least six people in St. Lucie County on Florida’s east coast. Nation Weather Service teams were expected to survey the damage Friday and determine exactly how many tornadoes had formed. The storm claimed at least 16 lives across the state.

The Tampa Bay area, which is vulnerable to storm surge, avoided a worst-case scenario as Milton moved south, drawing water away from the coast. Still, the storm sent a crane crashing into a downtown office building and ripped through the roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team.

Roads across the state remained impassable following the heavy downpour and storm surge in Milton. According to the weather service, the storm dropped over 18 inches of rain in parts of St. Petersburg, and in one spot 8.50 inches fell in just three hours.

Developments:

◾ According to USA TODAY’s outage tracker, 2.2 million utility customers were without power as of Friday morning.

◾ In northeast Florida, coastal portions of Duval, Brevard, St. Johns and Volusia counties remain under flood warnings warning of large breaking waves of 8 to 12 feet and life-threatening rip currents, according to the weather service.

Two federal judges have ruled that voter registration deadlines in Florida and Georgia will not be extended because of cleanup efforts after hurricanes Helene and Milton.

In Florida, the League of Women Voters of Florida filed a lawsuit after Gov. Ron DeSantis denied its request to extend the state’s registration deadline by 10 days on Oct. 7. The group said people affected by the hurricanes and displaced by emergency evacuation measures were unable to register to vote in time. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in Tallahassee denied the group’s request.

In Georgia, U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross on Thursday rejected a similar request from groups including the state’s NAACP chapter, the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda and the New Georgia Project. These groups sought to extend the deadline from October 7th to October 14th.

CNN reported that in a court ruling, Ross agreed with the state’s lawyers that extending the deadline would interfere too much with the election process. “We have not heard from anyone specifically who was unable to register to vote,” Ross said, according to CNN.

Election day is November 5th.

– Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY

First responders in Hillsborough County conducted water rescues Friday morning as the Alafia River exceeded its flood stage and homes were under several feet of water.

In a statement, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said it was assisting residents with evacuations and urged those in the path of the rising water to call 911. A video posted by the sheriff’s office on X, formerly Twitter, showed suburban streets turned into rivers. with vehicles, homes and street signs emerging from several feet of water.

As of 2 a.m. Friday, the Alafia River, which flows through several communities southeast of Tampa, was measured at 23.7 feet — more than 10 feet above flood stage, according to the National Weather Service.

The Alafia River was one of several waterways across Florida that flooded neighborhoods, prompting multiple warnings and advisories from the weather service.

Two of Florida’s major airports reopened Friday after temporarily suspending operations ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall late Wednesday.

Tampa International Airport resumed flights at 8 a.m. Friday after a three-day suspension. The airport was damaged when Milton swept across the bay with strong winds and dumped over 18 inches of rain.

Orlando International Airport, the state’s largest airport, said in a statement early Friday that it was “open and operational for all commercial flights.”

Both major airports reported cancellations and delays early Friday morning. Orlando International Airport had more than 170 flights canceled and more than 50 flights delayed as of 9:30 a.m. EDT, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website. In Tampa, more than 110 flights were canceled and at least 13 were delayed, FlightAware said.

Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, which suffered significant roof damage during the storm, remained closed Friday, according to its website. Airport CEO and President Rick Piccolo told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, part of the USA TODAY Network, that the terminal will be repaired before the end of the week and he expects flights to resume by Saturday afternoon.

Tuesday is the deadline for those who have requested a six-month extension to file their income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service. However, the IRS has extended this deadline for many people affected by hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Deadlines vary by location and disaster. Details of all recent disaster relief efforts can be found on the Around the Nation page on IRS.gov. Taxpayers are urged to understand the extended deadline applicable to their area as some deadlines may vary even within a specific state.

In Florida, taxpayers in some areas now have until November 1 and February 3, 2025 to file their 2023 federal income tax returns. Last week, the IRS announced an extension through May 1, 2025 for Florida residents living in 20 counties devastated by Hurricane Helene.

Read the full story: IRS extends October 15 tax deadline for several states

-Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press

Gasoline remained scarce across West Central Florida, in part because so many Floridians evacuated their coastal areas and returned Thursday.

Gasoline appeared to be widely available along the Interstate 4 corridor in the outskirts of Orlando, about 50 miles east of Tampa, where the storm came ashore.

In Tampa and St. Petersburg, many gas stations still had no power, according to the crowdsourcing app GasBuddy. Rescue workers at Tropicana Field refilled from a secured tanker.

– Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

According to authorities, at least 16 people died across the state of Florida in connection with Hurricane Milton.

In Tampa, a woman in her early 70s was found under a collapsed branch of a large tree, city police said in a statement. According to the preliminary investigation, “post-hurricane recovery work was being carried out at the property when the limb fell,” police said, adding that it appeared to be an accidental death.

In Orange County, which includes the city of Orlando, a man was found dead in his yard. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that it “appears the man stepped on a downed power line while clearing debris from Hurricane Milton.”

Elsewhere, two deaths were confirmed in St. Petersburg, four in Volusia County and one each in Polk and Citrus counties, and six in St. Lucie County following tornadoes there.

National Weather Service teams are underway Friday and Saturday assessing the damage and strength of suspected tornadoes on Florida’s Treasure Coast.

Forty-two warnings have been issued across East Central Florida, and weather officials have yet to determine the exact number of hurricanes that have formed across the region.

Residents assessed their neighborhoods in the wake of Hurricane Milton on Thursday. In Spanish Lakes Country Club Village in northern St. Lucie County, homes were destroyed, trees were downed, cars overturned and at least six people died in a suspected tornado.

—Gianna Montesano and Colleen Wixon, Treasure Coast Newspapers

Contribution: Reuters

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