Hurricane Milton killed at least 16 people in Florida and caused damage estimated at $50 billion, according to Joe Biden

“We did not experience the worst scenario, but we were affected”declared, Friday October 11, regarding Hurricane Milton, Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida. The passage of Hurricane Milton caused at least 16 deaths in its wake, authorities announced, while around 2.5 million homes and businesses remained without electricity on Friday October 11. Local authorities counted six deaths in St. Lucie County, four in Volusia County, three across Polk, Orange and Citrus counties, two in the city of St. Petersburg, and one in Tampa.

“Specialists estimate (…) that it caused damage of 50 billion dollars [45,6 milliards d’euros] environ »American President Joe Biden said on Friday.

Milton reached the west coast of Florida on Wednesday evening as a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which measures wind intensity and counts 5, then made its way to the inland, before reaching the Atlantic the following morning. Its passage caused numerous tornadoes and devastated a region already devastated by the powerful Hurricane Helene about two weeks earlier.

In Siesta Key, in Sarasota Bay, Milton left a landscape of desolation, uprooting trees, flooding streets, tearing off at least one roof, and strewing the community with various debris. In St. Petersburg, on Tampa Bay, the hurricane tore the roof off the local professional team’s baseball stadium and toppled a crane.

Rain and wind worsened by climate change

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, scientists warn.

According to an analysis released Friday by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) science network, Milton’s rainfall has been about 20% to 30% higher due to climate change and its winds have been 10% more intense. Without global warming, the hurricane would have made landfall in Florida in category 2, instead of 3, on the Saffir-Simpson scale, concluded the WWA.

However, for each increase in category, the risk of damage is generally multiplied by four, estimates the American Oceanic and Atmospheric Observation Agency (NOAA). Two weeks after Hurricane Helene passed through the same region, which caused at least 237 deaths across the southeast of the 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 carried away by the winds.

Although the damage is impressive in places, the worst seems to have been avoided, the hurricane having “weakened before hitting land”noted the state governor on Thursday, estimating that marine submersion “was not as significant as that observed for Hurricane Helene”. Search operations continued Friday, and the Coast Guard announced the spectacular rescue of a boat captain who survived the storm by clinging to an ice chest in the Gulf of Mexico.

The day before, Joe Biden had called on the population to “stay inside” for the moment, in particular to avoid “downed power lines, debris, and washed out roads”. 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.