Hurricane Milton live updates: DeSantis announces free gas for residents as $160 billion in damage is expected

President Joe Biden is visiting Florida today to tour areas affected by Hurricane Milton.

The president will make an initial stop in hard-hit Tampa before taking an aerial tour of affected areas en route to St. Petersburg, Florida.

Afterwards, the White House said Biden would receive an operational briefing in St. Pete Beach with federal, state and local officials before meeting with first responders and residents.

Biden will then deliver a speech in which he is expected to announce more than $600 million in funding for power grid resiliency projects to help the state be better equipped to deal with future storms.

Before Hurricane Milton reached Florida, astronauts aboard the International Space Station were able to view the situation from space.

Here’s a time lapse from NASA’s Matthew Dominick.

A Tennessee couple who moved to Siesta Key, Florida during the pandemic say they have faced constant flooding since 2020.

Lance and Nichol Fountaine narrated USA today Her home was flooded six times in 14 months, most recently by Hurricane Milton.

“I’m done,” Nichol said. “I love it, I’ll visit it, but I don’t want to experience it anymore.”

“We can’t keep throwing money at it and expect different results,” she added, calling it the “definition of insanity.”

Hotels across Florida are reportedly near capacity as repair crews and relief workers flood the state in the wake of Hurricane Milton.

“We saw workers from Alabama, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and even the Orlando area,” a hotel manager said Pensacola News Journal. “They came on Tuesday evening and we don’t have any rooms left until October 19.”

Residents were allowed to return Saturday to Manasota Key in eastern Florida, a barrier island not far from where Hurricane Milton made landfall on Wednesday.

Here are some of the scenes that greeted them, courtesy of WINK News.

A Missouri-based nonprofit is taking action in Florida to distribute free barbecue in the city of St. Petersburg.

Operation BBQ Reflief distributed box after box of BBQ pork meals to the hardest-hit city on Florida’s east coast.

Florida’s back-to-back hurricanes are a reminder of the kind of threat extreme weather events pose to the U.S., one that is only likely to get worse because of the climate crisis.

At a recent rally in California, Donald Trump suggested that disaster relief could be tied to a state’s policies.

More than 1,000 people have been rescued in Florida following Hurricane Milton as of Saturday, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“Fortunately, we never had a 15- to 20-foot storm surge, but still, the rising water is very dangerous and these folks jumped into action immediately,” the governor said at a public news conference.

Two devastating hurricanes could upend the upcoming 2024 election, according to officials in North Carolina and Florida.

“I speak for my colleagues across the state: It’s a pretty simple formula: Hide, survive, and then we have to assess where we are with the damage and make it work,” said Brian Corley, the elections director in Pasco County, Florida, CNN said.

“I have counties that are completely gone, completely washed away,” added Mary Beth Tipton, director of the Board of Elections in Yancey County, North Carolina. “We actually have a post office that is being washed away.”

The risk of flooding remains high in certain areas of Florida, even days after Hurricane Milton passed through the state.

“Severe flooding” is forecast for the Withlacoochee River north of Tampa, the National Weather Service said Saturday evening, which could impact Levy and Citrus counties.

“Turn around and avoid drowning if you encounter flooded streets,” the agency warned. “Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Motorists should not attempt to avoid barricades or drive cars through flooded areas.”