San Francisco. Florida was spared the worst scenario. Little consolation for the women and men on the rubble on day one – after Hurricane Milton.
James Sowards doesn’t know if he will again start over not in this house, not in Punta Gorda. “I’m thinking about just getting rid of it,” he says, “and just getting out of here.” The 71-year-old has survived two hurricanes in a very short space of time: first “Helene”, then “Milton”. When “Helene” raged in Florida, he jumped into his “Chevy truck” and wanted to escape.
Only: the truck – almost 20 years old – wouldn’t start. Sowards just stayed in his cab where the Water up to the seats rose. The first thing the truck driver did was have the starter repaired.
The day after Hurricane Milton: Surreal images
The night “Milton” struck, he was sleeping in the hallway of an elementary school. Now Sowards is in front of his flooded house with its half-collapsed walls, in front of the scattered furniture and clothes, and wonders if he wants to do that again: the clean-up work.
Read also: Terrifying videos show the violence of Hurricane Milton
This night was particularly hard for Jeff Weiler. The 61-year-old actually wanted to retire soon, with part of his life Life insurance he fulfilled a dream: a boat. And now: “It’s gone.” The engineer fights back tears.
The strength for a new beginning
Authorities have reopened the bridge to Siesta Key Island for some residents after the storm. “I am like that traumatized“I thought I had to get the hell out of here,” says Maria Williams, 48. Her house seems fine amid a chaos of flooded streets, broken trees and debris, destroyed pipes and the surreal image of sailboats and motorboats , which suddenly lie in front gardens.
In many places the streets and houses are flooded. © AFP | MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO
The day after, the US media is full of stories like this, of strokes of fate, strokes of luck, small and large heroic deeds. Still working Rescue teams to free people from buildings they cannot get out of themselves. The Coast Guard has rescued a man who was clinging to a cooler in the sea, nearly 50 kilometers from land.
No gas, no water, no electricity
Brandon Clement is a hurricane expert. He says every storm has its own signature. He reports on CNN ghost towns“there is no gas, no water, no electricity. Mobile phone reception is patchy.” Almost three million people are without electricity.
As strange as it sounds, the “worst scenario” has not materialized, says the governor Ron DeSantis firmly. For one thing, “Milton” weakened quickly, from category five to category two. On the other hand, after the experience with “Helene”, many followed the authorities’ calls to leave the state in good time and move into the interior of the country. Without these evacuations there would have been more than the 14 deaths so far.
Also interesting: Hurricane scale: The meteorologists’ five warning levels
The simple design pays off
The damage is enormous 30 to 50 billion dollarscalculated a rating agency for insurance companies. Mind you: only the insurance-relevant damage.
That there are such things devastation also has to do with the fact that many people in the USA live in caravans or wooden houses that cannot possibly withstand the forces of nature. On the one hand.
Such houses cannot possibly withstand storms. © AFP | GIORGIO VIERA
On the other hand, it falls reconstruction also easier. This is the case with power lines, which are not laid underground but rather hang from house to house. This also makes them easy to locate and repair.
Read about it: Hurricane “Milton”: 50,000 electricians on the way to Florida
Many thought it wouldn’t be that bad
Some of the people who were now rescued did not want to believe that it would be so bad. Anyone who lives in Florida has learned to live with the stormsthat rage here every year.
For Bartow resident Kayla Lane, “Milton” was definitely one Surprise. She stayed in the living room with her mother and brother, then they got tired and went to bed, and that was her blessing in disguise.
They jumped when they saw one “huge bang” heard. They ran into the living room and saw a tree, looked up and saw – not the ceiling, no, but the sky, kind of surreal. “It seems like we live in a completely different world now,” she says the next day. “Physically we’re fine,” Lane said. “Emotionally maybe not.” (fmg)
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