Florida Prepares for Hurricane Milton as Disaster Response to Hurricane Helene Ongoing

Florida is evacuating and preparing for Hurricane Milton that is projected to make landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday evening. The state continues to recover from Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida less than two weeks ago.

On Monday, Hurricane Milton quickly strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane, triggering storm surge warnings higher than Helene’s for Florida’s Gulf Coast. In preparation, widespread evacuation orders were issued along the coast, and as many as 15 million people are under flood watches across the Florida peninsula. Areas just north of where Milton makes landfall could see more than a foot of rain. Starting today and Wednesday, 11 million people are also at risk for tropical tornados.

Crews in Florida have been working around the clock to remove debris from Helene before Milton’s impact occurs. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said up to 4,000 National Guard personnel will be deployed to continue Helene cleanup on the state, CNN reported.

As the second most deadly storm in U.S. history, Helene created a 500-mile path of destruction with more than 230 deaths reported across six states. North Carolina particularly was hit with catastrophic flooding, resulting in more than 100 deaths in that state alone so far. In turn, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has provided more than US$26 million in housing and other types of assistance to over 25,000 households. More than 1,200 urban search and rescue personnel are in North Carolina and the teams have rescued or supported more than 3,200 survivors as of Saturday. More than 700 FEMA staff are on the ground as well. Over 74% of originally reported power outages also have been restored.

FEMA also has provided more than $40 million to more than 8,000 households in Florida, $4.7 million to over 5,700 households in South Carolina, $29 million to over 35,000 survivors in Georgia, and more than $230,000 to over 50 households in Virginia. FEMA has received more than 2,300 applications for disaster assistance in Tennessee.