Florida residents are continuing to repair the damage from Hurricane Milton and figure out what to do next after the storm smashed through coastal communities and tore homes to pieces, flooded streets and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes.

At least eight people are confirmed dead with reports of up to 15 fatalities, but many have expressed relief that Milton wasn’t worse.

The hurricane spared densely populated Tampa a direct hit, and the lethal storm surge that scientists feared never materialised.

Neighborhoods destroyed by tornadoes are seen in this aerial photo in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Fort Pierce, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Tornadoes destroyed whole neighbourhoods even before Milton made landfall. (AP)

Arriving just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene, the system knocked out power to more than 3 million customers, flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays ‘ baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane.

A flood of vehicles headed south on Interstate 75, the main highway that runs through the middle of the state, as relief workers and evacuated residents headed toward the aftermath.

At times, some cars even drove on the left shoulder of the road.

Bucket trucks and fuel tankers streamed by, along with portable bathroom trailers and a convoy of emergency vehicles.

As residents raced back to find out whether their homes were destroyed or spared, finding gas was still a challenge.

Natasha Ducre surveys the kitchen of her devastated home, which lost most of its roof during the passage of Hurricane Milton, in Palmetto, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Ducre, her husband, three children and two grandkids, rode out the storm in a government shelter and returned to find their home unlivable and much of their furniture and belongings destroyed by rainwater. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Inside the communities hit by Hurricane Milton

Fuel stations were still closed as far away as Ocala, more than a two-and-a-half-hour drive north of where the storm made landfall as a Category 3 storm near Siesta Key in Sarasota County on Wednesday night.

As the clean-up continued, the state’s vital tourism industry was beginning to return to normal.

Florida theme parks including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld planned to reopen Friday after an assessment of the effects of the storm.

Orlando International Airport, the state’s busiest, said departures for domestic flights and international flights would resume tomorrow, after resuming domestic arrivals today.

The airport had minor damage, including a few leaks and downed trees.

Orlando International Airport is set to reopen to international flights in the coming hours following Milton. (Orlando International Airport)
A water rescue boat moves in flood waters at an apartment complex in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Clearwater, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A water rescue boat moves in floodwaters at an apartment complex in Clearwater, Florida. (AP)

Milton prevented Simon Forster, his wife and their two children from returning to Scotland as planned Wednesday evening, so they enjoyed an extra two days of their two-week vacation on a bustling International Drive in Orlando’s tourism district today.

Hurricanes seem to follow them since 2022’s Hurricane Ian kept them from returning to Scotland after another Orlando vacation.

“Two extra days here, there are worse places we could be,” he said.

Natasha Shannon and her husband, Terry, were just feeling lucky to be alive. Hurricane Milton peeled the tin roof off of their cinderblock home in their neighbourhood a few blocks north of the Manatee River, about a 45-minute drive south of Tampa.

This drone image provided by Kairat Kassymbekov shows flooding from Hurricane Milton in Tampa, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.  (Kairat Kassymbekov via AP)
Flooding from Hurricane Milton in Tampa. (AP)
A St Lucie County Sheriff’s parking facility is shown after a tornado hit in Fort Pierce. (AP)

She pushed him to leave as the storm barreled toward them Wednesday night after he resisted evacuating their three-bedroom house where he grew up and where the couple lived with their three kids and two grandchildren.

She believes the decision saved their lives.

They returned to find the roof of their home scattered in sheets across the street, the wooden beams of what was their ceiling exposed to the sky. Inside, fibreglass insulation hung down in shreds, their belongings soaked by the rain and littered with chunks of shattered drywall.

“It ain’t much, but it was ours. What little bit we did have is gone,” she said.

With shelters no longer available and the cost of a hotel room out of reach, they plan to cram into Terry Shannon’s mother’s house for now.

After that, they’re not sure.

“I don’t have no answers,” Natasha Shannon said.

“What is my next move? What am I going to do?”

You May Also Like

Trump stands by far-reaching tariffs, calling them ‘beautiful thing to behold’ as stock futures plummet

President Trump stood by his wide-scale tariffs, calling them a “beautiful thing…

This State Is Putting 'Trans' Rights Over Parents' Rights

The state of Colorado is taking steps to “strengthen protections for…

Not enrolled to vote? You have just hours left to get it done

Australians who are not currently enrolled to vote in the 2025 federal…

Gosh, It Seems Like Just Last Year That MSM Hacks Were OK With Tariffs…

Some time in the next day or two I will be…