Washington: Hurricane Milton has left a trail of death and destruction in the US state of Florida with reports of more than 3 million customers without electricity. At least 10 people are reported to have been killed in the storm so far.
Milton made landfall Wednesday night along the west-central coast of the state as a Category 3 storm, but it had already sent scores of tornadoes ahead of it that had been hammering these areas.
Forecasters have said Milton has now been downgraded to Category 1 and it will leave Florida Thursday morning and weather conditions will improve gradually.
President Joe Biden has called Milton a “storm of the century” in appeals to residents of the state on Wednesday as the storm came close. He was briefed by Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell Thursday morning about the initial impacts of Hurricane Milton, as well as the Federal government’s ongoing support to State and local officials, who are focused on life-saving response efforts today.
Biden also spoke with Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican. “The Governor said they are still assessing the damage across the state,” the White House said in a statement. “He thanked the President for the extensive Federal support to prepare for and respond to the storm. The President reiterated that he will provide any support the state needs to speed response and recovery.”
“The storm was significant, but thankfully this was not the worst-case scenario,” DeSantis said at a briefing Thursday morning.
–IANS