Florida avoided the “worst-case scenario” from Hurricane Milton, but remains severely damaged and will take time to recover, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday morning after the storm hit the coast. .
Milton made landfall Wednesday evening as a Category 3 hurricane. While this is a large storm, it was not even close to the Category 4 or 5 storms previously predicted during activity in the Gulf. Just as importantly, it spared Tampa and its major residents, instead hitting Siesta Key, about 110 miles south of the city.
The hurricane killed at least 10 people, knocked out power to more than 3 million people, and blew off the roof of Tropicana Field, a sports stadium that hosts baseball games for the Tampa Bay Rays.
“As the days go by, we will get a better sense of the extent of the damage,” DeSantis said. “…What we can say is that the storm was significant, but thankfully this was not the worst-case scenario. The storm did weaken before landfall, and was initially reported to be Storm surge was generally not as severe as observed during Hurricane Helen. ”
“The storm certainly caused a lot of destruction and damage,” he warned.
Helen hit the Panhandle north of Tampa about two weeks ago, causing flooding in North Carolina and surrounding areas as it moved north. The Milton, by contrast, sailed through the central part of the state and by Wednesday afternoon had reached the Atlantic Ocean, far from the coast.
“That surge didn't reach Helen's level. So Helen was causing a huge surge all over the west coast of Florida, and then in the Big Bend it was just biblical,” the governor said. “That wasn't necessarily what we have here. Anything north of the storm, the surge on the West Coast was minimal.”
Before the storm hit, Christian leaders including evangelical Franklin Graham of Samaritan's Purse and Bryant Wright of Send Relief urged people of faith to pray for the storm to weaken. In hindsight, the storm actually weakened.
Some areas of Florida received 18 inches of rain. The governor said more than 6,500 National Guard troops are providing support across the state. He added that the Tampa airport should reopen on Friday.
“I think everyone responded very quickly. I'm proud of everyone's hard work,” DeSantis said. “We still have work to do, but we will definitely get through this.”
Governor DeSantis Provides Update #10 in Response to Hurricane Milton https://t.co/W4M83Tskb6
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) October 10, 2024
Photo provided by: ©Instagram/Frogovron de Santis
michael faust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His articles have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, Christian Post, Leaf Chronicle, Toronto Star, and Knoxville News Sentinel.
