(Sarasota) At least 10 people lost their lives when the hurricane Milton swept through Florida overnight, causing tornadoes and flooding, authorities announced Thursday.
What you need to know
- Milton made landfall Wednesday evening on the west coast of Florida “near Siesta Key in Sarasota County”;
- Downgraded at the end of the day to category 3 (out of 5), it decreased further on Thursday morning in power (category 1);
- The Disney World theme parks have been closed and the Tampa and Sarasota airports are at a standstill;
- More than three million homes were left without power;
- For more than a year, temperatures in the North Atlantic have been continuously evolving at record levels of heat, according to data from the American Meteorological Observatory (NOAA).
Milton swept across Florida from west to east after making landfall Wednesday evening. If the “worst case scenario” seems to have been avoided, a series of unexpected tornadoes proved deadly.
US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said he had “information that at least 10 people” had died.
“In our opinion, these deaths were caused by the tornadoes” which struck this peninsula in the southeast of the United States, already devastated 15 days ago by the hurricane Helene.
Despite everything, the authorities seemed relieved.
“The storm was significant, but fortunately the worst-case scenario did not occur,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Thursday morning.
The hurricane “weakened before making landfall, and the marine submersion, from what we know so far, was not as significant as that observed for the hurricane Helene », which struck several states in the southeastern United States at the end of September.
Milton reached the west coast of Florida on Wednesday evening as a Category 3 hurricane – on a scale of 5 – and maintained powerful winds as it made its way inland, before reaching the Atlantic on Thursday Morning.
President Joe Biden and the governor spoke by telephone Thursday morning to discuss the situation, the White House said.
In a video released Thursday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he was “saddened by the devastation” caused by Milton.
“Very lucky”
In Sarasota County, on the west coast of Florida, where the water has risen 2.4 to 3 meters according to the governor, residents are starting to go out to see the damage. Tree branches and traffic signs litter the streets.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Damage after the hurricane Milton in Tampa, Florida.
“I think we are very lucky,” resident Carrie Elizabeth told AFP. “It will take a long time to clean up, but it could have been much worse,” she assures.
Joe Biden, however, called on the population to “stay indoors” for the moment, in particular to avoid “downed power lines, debris, and washed out roads”.
Further north, in St. Petersburg, on Tampa Bay, the hurricane tore the roof off the local professional team’s baseball stadium and toppled a crane.
More than 3.1 million homes are without power across Florida, according to the governor.
Although it has left the peninsula, the hurricane continues to produce powerful winds and “heavy rain” over central and eastern Florida, according to the US Hurricane Center (NHC).
Milton was expected to be “one of the most destructive hurricanes in more than a century in Florida,” Joe Biden warned Wednesday evening.
Two weeks after the hurricane passed through the same region Helenewhich left at least 237 dead across the southeastern United States (including at least 15 in Florida), this new storm was all the more worrying as the numerous debris caused by the first hurricane were still visible in the streets , and could be blown away by the winds.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
“Alarm signal”
Florida, the third most populous state in the country and which attracts many tourists, is used to hurricanes.
But climate change, by warming the seas, makes their rapid intensification more likely and increases the risk of more powerful phenomena, according to scientists.
For John Marsham, specialist in atmospheric sciences, “many aspects ofHelene and of Milton “completely correspond” to what scientists anticipate in terms of climate change.
“Hurricanes need warm oceans to form, and record ocean temperatures fuel these devastating storms,” he explains.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Helene And Milton “Definitely should serve as a wake-up call to everyone when it comes to climate change,” says Sarasota resident Kristin Joyce.
The two hurricanes, which occurred a few weeks before an extremely close presidential election, took on a political dimension, with Republicans and Democrats arguing over disaster aid.
Former President Donald Trump accuses Democrats of intervening too late after the hurricane Heleneallegations strongly denied by President Biden and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. They in turn accuse the Republican candidate of irresponsibly fueling disinformation around the event.
A solar storm could complicate rescue efforts
The sky is decidedly fierce: a solar storm could complicate relief operations in the United States after the passage of hurricanes Helene And Miltonincreasing pressure on electrical systems and disrupting GPS services, a US agency warned on Thursday.
A coronal mass ejection (CME) from the Sun hit Earth on Thursday, particles disrupting the planet’s magnetic field.
This triggered a level 4 geomagnetic storm on a scale of 5, according to the US Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). This should persist until Friday, with the possibility that level 5, the maximum level, will be reached.
The latter was observed in May for the first time since 2003. The event caused spectacular northern lights in many regions of the world, much further from the poles than usual.
This time, with two powerful hurricanes making landfall in Florida in just over two weeks, the new solar storm “could increase pressure on power grids already weakened by hurricanes,” the SWPC warned.
GPS navigation systems, “particularly those used for disaster relief operations, could be degraded,” the center added.
The Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEMA) as well as several state agencies involved in relief operations have been notified.
The Sun is currently near or even at its peak of activity in its cycle which lasts 11 years.