Floods, blackouts and gas shortages: Florida faces headwinds in the wake of hurricanes Helene and Milton

On a dark night, a fierce storm gave Florida a sharp blow to the head. Less than two weeks later, another tore through its heart.

After Helene’s strong winds, heavy rains and a wall of water took 20 lives in the state along its path from south to north, Milton had claimed at least 17 more, bringing the ocean’s fury ashore with several feet of storm surge, three months worth of rain in three hours to some areas and a deadly tornado outbreak as it churned from west to east.

The trail of destruction all the way from the Gulf to the Atlantic is vast. Flooded, blocked by fallen trees or damaged, impassable streets number in the hundreds. Exhausted emergency responders have rescued more than a thousand. And an already weakened power grid buckled for millions.

Even in a state accustomed to bouts of bad weather, facing shortages of groceries and gasoline, a tangle of insurance paperwork and debris from the last hurricane scattered anew, Floridians must now try to recover from back-to-back “once in a lifetime” storms.

Here is the latest:

• Flooding remains a threat along swollen rivers: Milton’s deluge has left behind several bloated, slow-to-recede rivers across central and north Florida, following a pattern seen during other tropical storms and hurricanes that have approached the state in recent years. High water drains slowly across Florida’s flat terrain, which has prolonged the flooding and prompted several of the rescues that continue Saturday. CNN meteorologists said areas near Tampa downstream of the Hillsborough River, which remained at major flood stage early Saturday, may face more flooding in the coming days. A flood warning was issued for the Alafia River in Lithia, east of hard-hit Tampa, as it crossed major flood stage Thursday and exceeded more than 24 feet on Friday. The Anclote River, north of Clearwater, and the St. Johns River, between Orlando and Daytona Beach, both approaching new all-time records, are expected to remain at major flood stage through the weekend. Several people trapped in flooded homes were among the more than 1,200 people rescued statewide since Milton’s landfall. In Hillsborough County, first responders have rescued 730 people and 111 pets.

• Millions still without power: The number of Florida customers still in the dark dropped by more than a million between Thursday morning and Friday afternoon, signaling progress by energy companies working to restore electricity across the state, but just under 2 million remained without power by early Saturday according to PowerOutage.us. An outage left the sewer system in Sanibel, Florida, out of order by Friday, prompting the city manager to urge residents not to use their toilets or showers.

• Gasoline shortage continues across the state: Gasoline was hard to come by in the Tampa Bay area as an ongoing fuel shortage wiped out the supply to more than three in four gas stations in the area by Friday afternoon, according to gas price-tracking platform GasBuddy. Across Florida, nearly 30% of stations were without fuel, with 77.5% of those shortages reported in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area. The state’s authorities were working to distribute fuel “as fast as humanly possible,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis, who added Friday the state still had an inventory of 1 million gallons of gas.

• Airports, ocean ports and theme parks reopening: Tampa International Airport has reopened after service was suspended three days, while Sarasota Bradenton International Airport will remain closed until 9 a.m. ET Wednesday as crews work to address damage caused by the storm. The Coast Guard has reopened some ports in Florida, as well as several ports in Georgia and South Carolina, although many Florida ports were still closed as of Friday. Meanwhile, Walt Disney World, Aquatica Orlando, Discovery Cove and SeaWorld Orlando theme parks have resumed welcoming visitors. Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and Adventure Island, however, will remain closed on Saturday.

In pictures: Hurricane Milton unleashes its fury

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Recovery will take time and money

Cleanup crews working to clear debris across Milton-battered Florida over the weekend are working a “24/7 operation,” DeSantis said Friday as the state attempts to speed up the process. “The norm in a major hurricane, debris takes sometimes a year to get picked up,” DeSantis said. “I don’t think that makes sense. I don’t think that’s good for recovery.”

Crews have to contend with thousands of downed trees, some of which are entangled with power lines. Duke Energy, Florida’s largest power company, warned against people wanting to clear the debris themselves about the possibility of downed lines hiding beneath the rubble.

“We are encouraging them to stay away from debris where there would potentially be any type of overhead wire,” Melissa Seixas, Florida president of Duke Energy, told CNN’s Kate Bolduan on Friday. “They don’t necessarily spark. They don’t necessarily hiss. But they are a silent, deadly killer for somebody who is not trained to handle them.”

Meanwhile, Florida officials are urging people to be aware of financial predators while hiring Milton-related repair services.

“Many areas in the county have incurred severe property damage because of back-to-back impacts from Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton,” Pinellas County Consumer Protection said in a public advisory Thursday.

“Watch out for ‘fly-by-night’ contractors who take deposits and do little or no work,” the advisory stated. “Avoid dealing with anyone soliciting work door-to-door; take the opportunity to check them out first.”

Florida consumer protection teams encouraged people who want to donate funds toward recovery to “ask for a copy of the charity’s financial report to determine how much of your contribution is going toward the cause and how much goes to administrative and fundraising costs.”
Government agencies and nonprofits work to help

On Sunday, President Joe Biden will visit parts of Florida hit by Milton, the White House said Friday.

FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said the agency has enough funding to “support the immediate needs” of people reeling from the impacts of both Helene and Milton but will require additional funding soon.

“We’re assessing every day how much it’s drawing down on that so I can continue to work with my leadership, as well as Congress as far as when we will need a supplemental,” Criswell said in a Friday news conference. “We will need one. It’s just a matter of when.”

She encouraged survivors to apply for assistance to help with temporary housing and longer-term recovery costs, and added FEMA would work with impacted communities to remove debris from both hurricanes.

The American Red Cross said its teams are searching for people who went missing after Milton slammed Florida, as ongoing power outages and limited internet connectivity have left some people unable to communicate with loved ones.

Those having trouble contacting family and friends can submit a request through the Red Cross website, the organization said. Its teams continued Saturday searching for people who went missing after Hurricane Helene in Georgia, Tennessee, the Carolinas and Florida.

On Thursday, the Red Cross said it’s helping to support 83,000 people who sought refuge in Florida evacuation shelters.

“As conditions improve, dozens of emergency response vehicles will begin to travel through affected neighborhoods, delivering meals and relief supplies,” the nonprofit said in a news release.

CNN’s Andy Rose and Paradise Afshar contributed to this report.