Important Takeaways:
- Authorities in North Carolina on Monday confirmed at least 94 storm-related fatalities from Hurricane Helene but still could not account for the number of those who remain missing or unaccounted for.
- Fatalities were reported across 20 counties, according to a morning update from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS).
- The vast majority of those fatalities were reported in Buncombe, with 42 deaths, followed by Yancey and Henderson, at 12 and 7, respectively.
- NCDHSS said there are no missing persons numbers at this time because there are different sources of where missing persons and welfare check requests were reported during the storm.
- Justin J. Graney, Chief of External Affairs and Communications for North Carolina Emergency Management, told Fox News Digital there are “wide area searches taking place since [Hurricane Helen] took place.”
- “This includes grid searches, vehicle searches, damaged structure searches, and searches around areas where debris have collected. Hundreds of responders have conducted said searches,” Graney said.
- On Thursday, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed the state’s first relief package to address Helene’s devastation, allocating $273 million for immediate needs and giving flexibility to agencies and displaced residents.
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Important Takeaways:
- Across the state, the storm has been tied to at least 16 deaths.
- As of Friday morning, 2.2 million utility customers remained without power
- Some communities remained inundated with floodwater on Friday as residents salvaged belongings from damaged homes.
- Throughout east central Florida, 42 warnings were issued and weather service officials have yet to determine the exact number of twisters that formed across the region.
- Milton spawned a deadly tornado outbreak that killed at least six in St. Lucie County on Florida’s east coast.
- In portions of St. Petersburg, the storm dumped over 18 inches of rain, and at one point, 8.50 inches fell in just 3 hours, according to the weather service.
- In Milton’s wake, gasoline remains scarce in some areas
- First responders in Hillsborough County conducted water rescues Friday morning as the Alafia River rose above its flood stage and houses were submerged in several feet of water.
- Tampa International Airport resumed flights beginning at 8 a.m. Friday following a three-day suspension.
- IRS has extended that deadline for many impacted by hurricanes and other natural disasters
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Important Takeaways:
- Hurricane Milton tore a coast-to-coast path of destruction across the state of Florida, whipping up a spate of deadly tornadoes that left at least four people dead and millions without power Thursday.
- Sustained hurricane-force winds smashed inland through communities still reeling from Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, before roaring off Florida’s east coast into the Atlantic.
- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the storm triggered deadly tornadoes and left more than three million people were without power.
- In a statement on its website, St. Lucie County on the east coast confirmed “four fatalities as a result of these tornadoes.”
- Wind uprooted large trees and ripped apart the roof at the Tampa Bay Rays’ Tropicana Field baseball stadium in St. Petersburg, and sent a construction crane falling onto a downtown building nearby.
- As the eye of the storm exited the peninsula, communities were still contending with strong winds, heavy rainfall, and the risk of flash floods.
- By Thursday morning, Milton weakened to a Category 1 storm but was still registering powerful winds of up to 85 mph (140 kph) , according to the National Hurricane Center.
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Important Takeaways:
- Hurricane Milton made landfall on Siesta Key on the Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday night as a major Category 3 hurricane with 120 mph winds as the state endured an assault of at least 19 tornadoes that resulted in at least five of 10 reported deaths so far.
- It never lost hurricane strength as it crossed the state exiting near Cape Canaveral on Thursday morning.
- Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson said the county had more than a dozen confirmed tornado touchdowns, and one destroyed a senior community neighborhood made up of mostly mobile homes.
- “They didn’t stand a chance,” he said. The sheriff’s office announced Thursday that five people had died in the county.
- At 11 a.m., the hurricane was located about 135 miles east-northeast of Cape Canaveral and 205 miles north-northwest of Great Abaco Island, Bahamas with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. moving east-northeast at 20 mph. Its eye had moved off the coast as of 4 a.m. after spending nearly seven hours crossing the state.
- More than 18 inches of rain and 101 mph gusts were reported in St. Petersburg with multiple areas flooded from rain and storm surge there and up and down the Gulf Coast. A 103 mph gust was reported as deep as Mulberry in Polk County, according to the National Weather Service.
- The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season has had 13 named storms including nine hurricanes, four of which grew to major hurricane strength, and four tropical storms.
- Hurricane season runs from June 1-Nov. 30.
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Important Takeaways:
- The National Weather Service (NWS) in Miami has issued a tornado watch and several tornado warnings for parts of Florida as Hurricane Milton rapidly approaches west-central Florida.
- On Wednesday morning, the NWS reported several tornadoes, including one crossing the I-75 highway, and urged residents to seek shelter immediately.
- The tornado watch remains valid until Wednesday evening at 9pm ET and covers parts of south Florida
- Videos and pictures posted online showed several of the spotted tornadoes growing in size as they move across south Florida.
- The agency also warned that isolated hail up to a 0.5in size is possible, along with isolated gusts of wind traveling up to 70mph.
- Approximately 12.6 million residents face potential exposure to the tornadoes, in addition to 2,424 schools and 170 hospitals.
- The tornado watch and warnings come as the category 5 Hurricane Milton is expected to double in size as the “storm of the century” by the time it makes landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday.
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Important Takeaways:
- With residents preparing for whatever Milton brings, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor sat down with CNN on Monday to discuss what’s at risk for residents who don’t heed evacuation orders.
- As the Gulf Coast prepares for yet another strong hurricane, Tampa Bay officials are urging residents to take evacuation orders seriously, especially if they live anywhere near the coast.
- Hurricane Milton poses a threat to the region that likely no one in the region has ever seen in their lifetimes, as the last time the Tampa area was hit by the eye of a major hurricane was on Oct. 25, 1921. The hurricane had no official name but is known locally as the Tarpon Springs storm, for the seaside town where it came ashore.
- “The number one message, as it has been for several days now, is that you need to prepare. Do whatever you need to do and then get out of the evacuation zones which now are evacuation zones A and B, and as we all have heard so many times now, you hide from the wind and run from the water and we are talking about, right now, the possibility of a direct hit with 10 to 12-foot tidal surge — put that in perspective, Hurricane Helene, which just left the Tampa Bay area a week ago, there was 6-foot storm surge and that literally devastating to so many in our coastal areas,”
- “Helene was a wake-up call, this is literally catastrophic and I can say without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die,” Castor warned.
- She went on to explain that she’s never given that warning before but given the unprecedented circumstances of Milton and the threat of a direct hit to the Tampa Bay area, the warning could save residents’ lives who are on the fence about staying or leaving.
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