Florida residents return home post-hurricane to tackle clean-up tasks, but find themselves facing scarcities in gas and electricity supplies.
Obstructed by roads obstructed by uprooted trees and flooding, essential service providers such as fuel suppliers and power companies are laboring to revive the fundamental amenities of daily life and law enforcement is aiding in the recovery process by escorting fuel tankers attempting to reach those in dire need.
The White House announced that President Joe Biden would journey to Florida to examine the aftermath of the storm. He will conduct an aerial inspection to survey some of the most severely affected areas, confer with first responders, and deliver a speech in St. Petersburg on Sunday morning.
Here’s the latest:
• Depleted gas stations abound: As of early Sunday, approximately 29% of Florida’s gas stations have no fuel, according to the observational website GasBuddy.com. In the devastated Tampa-St. Petersburg region, more than 77% of stations are without gas. In the Sarasota area, 62%, and in the Ft. Myers and Naples area, 42%, are out of fuel. In the Orlando area, 35% of stations are gasless. Over 37.3 million gallons of fuel have been unloaded at Florida ports, as per Kevin Guthrie, director of the state’s Division of Emergency Management. “We currently have 25 Florida Highway Patrol escorts to expedite the arrival of fuel tankers from the port, and thus, they are being delivered to refill the stations,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said. Three public fuel sites in Plant City, Bradenton, and St. Petersburg have been inaugurated, permitting customers to receive 10 gallons of gas for free. DeSantis announced that more such sites would be opened in Charlotte, Pinellas, and Hillsborough counties on Sunday.
• Power is progressively being reinstated: As of early Sunday, more than 1 million individuals remained without power across the state, represented from a peak of nearly 3 million. Teams from across the nation are striving to reconnect homes and businesses to the grid. The power companies anticipate that most people will regain electricity by midweek.
• St. Petersburg offers gas stations and charging facilities: The city of St. Petersburg has established temporary stations to assist residents in need, offering a location to charge their cellphones and obtain essentials like bottled water, batteries, and tarps. The city remains under a boil water advisory due to numerous pipe breaks and 25 crews are traversing the streets to retrieve debris. “We have withstood two storms in less than two weeks. This is unprecedented from a debris standpoint, but it’s still our top priority to get our city cleaned up and return to some semblance of normalcy,” stated Mike Jefferis, city enrichment administrator.
• President Biden declares a major disaster: President Joe Biden declared a major disaster for the state on Saturday, as per FEMA. “Federal disaster assistance is available to the state of Florida to supplement recovery efforts in the areas affected by Hurricane Milton” from October 5 onward, a FEMA news release stated. Biden’s declaration makes funding available for individuals in more than 30 counties impacted by Milton, as per the release. The funds include grants for temporary housing and home repairs.
Flooding continues to impede recovery
Flooding concerns following Milton’s inundation of 16 inches of rain over Hillsborough County have obstructed the region’s recovery from the storm, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said Saturday.
“The water doesn’t subside as quickly as all of us would prefer, so, the healing, the recovery, is taking much longer,” Chronister said.
While the National Weather Service office in Tampa Bay continued flood warnings for rivers in Hillsborough, Sarasota, and Manatee counties, as well as several other locations Saturday, some of which will remain in effect “until further notice,” according to the weather service.
The Alafia River in Lithia, Florida, and the Hillsborough River, both in the Tampa area, continued to be at major flood stage by early Sunday.
A CNN crew touring the Hillsborough County neighborhood of Valrico with the sheriff’s office on Saturday observed extensive flooding spanning several blocks, submerging front yards and garages. Residents reported never experiencing such severe flooding in their decades of living there.
Chronister stated Saturday that Hillsborough County’s crews executed more than 300 rescues within a 48-hour period, with teams working round the clock.
Drivers seek solace amid gas scarcity
Numerous Florida drivers, lacking in fuel for days, queued in lengthy lines outside gas stations on Saturday, hoping to fill their tanks and cans, as shortages persisted in the hard-hit areas.
Some individuals informed CNN that they’ve had to rely on word of mouth to locate petrol stations with fuel. Drone footage on Saturday morning showed lengthy lines of vehicles lining both sides of a Thorntons gas station in Oldsmar, Pinellas County.
One of those lines, consisting of at least 20 vehicles, stretched across the intersection while allowing other vehicles to pass, video revealed. Relief arrived Saturday for some stations, including at a Wawa in Valrico, Florida, where Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputies escorted a gas tanker truck as several drivers awaited the opportunity to use the pumps.
A man standing outside his parked white pickup truck offered a contented thumbs-up into the air as the tanker approached, video showed. Paula Cast told CNN that her family visited four or five different gas stations on Friday, but everything was closed.
Then on Saturday, they received a call from one of their friends stating a Wawa station had gas. “So me and my son immediately ran over here, and we’ve been in line for about an hour and a half, literally on fumes,” Cast said.
CNN’s Sam Fossum contributed to this report.
Given the current situation in Florida due to Hurricane Milton, here are two sentences that contain the word 'us' and follow from the text:
The White House announced that President Joe Biden will journey to Florida to examine the aftermath of the storm, meeting with first responders and essential service providers like fuel suppliers and power companies to better understand the challenges we are facing.
In response to the widespread gas shortages in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis announced that more public fuel sites will be opened in Charlotte, Pinellas, and Hillsborough counties on Sunday, providing 10 gallons of gas for free to those in need.
