At least 16 dead in Florida from Hurricane Milton as Trump, Harris contend over storm response

Residents of Florida neighbourhoods hit by Hurricane Milton were assessing the damage on Friday from back-to-back storms that devastated swathes of the Sunshine State. There were at least 16 Milton-related deaths, according to Florida law enforcement. The storm came days after Hurricane Helene hit the state, requiring a massive clean-up operation just weeks before the November 5 general elections.

The death toll from Hurricane Milton has risen to at least 16, officials in Florida said Friday, and millions were still without power as residents began the painful process of piecing their lives back together.

More than two million households and businesses were still without power, officials said, and some areas in the path that the monster storm blasted through the state remained flooded.

"There's places where water is continuing to rise," Governor Ron DeSantis warned on Friday. But while the storm was "significant," he said, "thankfully this was not the worst-case scenario."

In a White House briefing, US President Joe Biden said experts estimated the cost of storm damage at $50 billion.

The federal response to the huge storm -- and to Hurricane Helene, which devastated parts of the US southeast just two weeks earlier -- has taken on an increasingly political edge, and Biden said he would visit Florida on Sunday.

Tornadoes, not floodwaters, were behind many of the storm's deaths.


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