- Hurricane Milton has intensified into a Category 5 storm, the most dangerous classification.
- It’s set to make landfall on Wednesday in Florida, which is still reeling from Hurricane Helene.
- The hurricanes have also whipped up a political storm, with Trump claims sparking a FEMA response.
Floridians are bracing for another serious storm even as they recover from the last one that barreled through the region.
Hurricane Milton intensified into a Category 5 storm — the most severe classification — in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday and is expected to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday.
That’s less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene tore through the state along the Gulf Coast on its way into Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The severe flooding in those states stretched funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency — and another storm could put further strain on the federal disaster agency.
It’s already sparked political wrangling, with Donald Trump accusing Democrats of botching the recovery operations — and Democrats saying he’s not telling the truth.
Milton reached peak wind speeds of nearly 180 mph on Monday, the National Hurricane Center said, and is expected to create “a life-threatening storm surge” along Florida’s west coast near Tampa Bay.
Heavy rainfall beginning on Monday could result in moderate to major river-flooding risks, the center said.
The state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, issued a state of emergency for 51 counties on Sunday, and millions of Floridians could soon be under orders to evacuate.
DeSantis also said Monday that debris from Helene must be cleared to avoid it being kicked up again by Milton, The Associated Press reported.
Helene caused more than 220 deaths, and Moody’s Analytics estimated its damage could total between $20 billion and $34 billion.
The timing is problematic for federal agencies. The secretary of homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas, told reporters last week that FEMA did not have enough funds to make it through hurricane season, which runs through the end of November, the AP reported.
President Joe Biden suggested last week Congress may need to pass a supplemental spending bill, though members are not expected to return to Washington until after the election.
In a letter to congressional leaders on Friday, Biden said FEMA had the resources it needed for the “immediate emergency response phase” in the wake of Helene but that the Small Business Administration’s disaster-loan program was on the verge of running out of money.
And that was before Milton intensified in the Gulf Coast and threatened to deal Florida another crushing blow.
Helene becomes a political issue
With one month until Election Day, the federal response to Helene quickly became politicized.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has frequently posted about the FEMA response to Helene in the days since the storm tore through the Southeast. The billionaire expressed anger in a Friday X post, saying that SpaceX engineers tried to offer help via helicopter but were declined by FEMA.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Monday that he spoke with Musk via phone, attributing some of what he said was the billionaire’s confusion to “temporary flight restrictions,” which the FAA imposed in the immediate aftermath of Helene to maintain safety in the skies. Buttigieg said he and Musk were able to expedite approval for pilots trying to bring Starlink equipment to areas hit by the storm. Musk followed up with an X post thanking the transportation secretary.
Trump, too, has stoked the partisan fire in recent days, directing much of his vitriol at Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump accused Biden of ignoring calls from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. Kemp later disputed the claim and said he had spoken with Biden already and had initially missed a call from the president.
Trump later referenced “reports” he said he received that showed the federal government and Democratic governor of North Carolina were “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.” As online rumors swirled, FEMA issued a response, combatting many of the claims, including any demographic bias in recovery efforts.
For their part, Biden said in a Sunday statement that he ordered another 500 active-duty troops to Western North Carolina to assist with recovery efforts, bringing the total to 1,500 troops, and Harris, meanwhile, visited the state over the weekend, praising first responders and promising ongoing federal support.
On Monday, NBC News reported that DeSantis was not taking calls from Harris about Helene’s recovery efforts, citing an aide for the governor who said DeSantis was avoiding the vice president’s calls because “they seemed political.”
During a Monday news conference, however, DeSantis said he didn’t know Harris had been trying to reach him, adding that he hadn’t spoken with the Biden Administration because the federal government had already approved the state’s requests, NBC reported.
The succession of weather events has also underscored the rising cost of home insurance in Florida, the most at-risk state for hurricanes, with premiums skyrocketing.
While Florida remains one of the most popular states to move to, Business Insider previously reported that the high cost of insurance — and homes — had caused some to reconsider their residency in the state.
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