Hurricane Milton live: DeSantis announces free gas as $160bn in damage expected

A pair of disastrous hurricanes could upend the upcoming 2024 election, according to officials in North Carolina and Florida.

“I speak for my colleagues around the state: It’s a rather simple formula – it’s hunker down, survive, and then we have to assess where we are with damages and make it work,” Brian Corley, the supervisor of elections in Florida’s Pasco County, told CNN.

“I’ve got precincts that are completely gone, that are completely washed away,” Mary Beth Tipton, the director of the board of elections in North Carolina’s Yancey County, added. “We’ve actually got a post office that’s washed away.”

Flood risk remains high in certain areas of Florida, even days after Hurricane Milton passed through the state.

“Major flooding” is forecast on the Withlacoochee River, north of Tampa, the National Weather Service said on Saturday night, which could impact Levy and Citrus Counties.

“Turn around, don`t drown when encountering flooded roads,” the agency warned. “Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Motorists should not attempt to drive around barricades or drive cars through flooded areas.”

While parts of Florida were flattened and flooded by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, one South Florida development weathered the storms with few issues.

Hunters Point, near Bradenton Beach, is billed as the country’s first “net-zero” single-family housing development.

The development in Cortez, Florida, generates more energy than it uses via solar panels, and homes are built with hurricane-proofing technologies like concrete constructions, hurricane-proof fixtures, foam-reinforced walls, streets designed to divert flood waters, and buried power and interent lines.

As CNN reports, those inside the development were able to keep their electricity when millions lost it, even though Milton made landfall nearby.

“Everybody around us was completely dark at like five in the morning, and you see the lights on in our houses,” Marshall Gobuty, the founder and president of the development, told CNN. “So, it really was a test of why we did this.”

President Joe Biden will visit Florida on Sunday to survey the damage from Hurricane Milton, WTSP reports.

The president is set to arrive at Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base, then conduct an aerial tour of storm damage in the surrounding area.

He’ll then head to St. Petersburg and get a briefing on the state of the disaster response.

Biden will then depart for Philadelphia.

A woman who says she’s the daughter of Joseph Malinowski, 54 — a Tampa, Florida man who went viral and was dubbed “Lieutenant Dan” for his decision to ride out the approaching hurricanes Helene and Milton on his boat — is worried that his sudden fame and donations from wellwishers will put her father at risk.

Ashley Anny Malinowski voiced her concern in a series of TikToks on Friday.

“Lieutenant Dan was doing just fine without all that money,” she told viewers in one video.

“Y’all TikTok f***ing famous people, y’all blowing him up and he’s gonna be dead before he can f***ing enjoy that boat and stuff. Because Look at him, after y’all got a hold of him and now he’s high as f*** on all these videos.”

More details in our full story.

In the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, partisan politics have encouraged the frightening spread of conspiracies about disaster relief.

Last week, Kelly Rissman had this look about the new phenomenon.

Florida is officially a major disaster area, according to the Biden adminsitration.

The White House declared the state a major disaster area yesterday, it announced on Saturday, freeing up federal funding for impacted counties.

It’s a move that’s at odds with the recent apparent political conflict between vice president Kamala Harris and Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

Schools in Pinellas County, a peninsula containing the cities of St. Petersburg and Clearwater, will remain closed on Monday, education officials announced, as the hard hit Tampa Bay region continues to recover from Hurricane Milton.

“No decision has been made about Tuesday, October 15,” the school system wrote on its website. “The district will communicate this decision by noon on Monday, October 14, and will be based on the closure of shelters and the stability of the power grid.”

In the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, residents of Florida are facing long lines to get fuel from gas stations with disrupted supply lines.

On Saturday, Florida governor Ron DeSantis announced residents would be able to get up to 10 gallons of free fuel from three state-run fuel depots spread across Plant City, Bradenton, and St. Petersburg.

The governor added three more such fuel depots were in the works.