In Pinellas County, deputies used high-water vehicles to shuttle people back and forth to their homes in a flooded Palm Harbor neighbourhood where waters continued to rise.
Ashley Cabrera left with her 18- and 11-year-old sons and their three dogs, Eeyore, Poe and Molly. It was the first time since Milton struck that they’ve been able to leave the neighbourhood. They are now headed to a hotel in Orlando.
“I’m extremely thankful that we could get out now and go for the weekend somewhere we can get a hot meal and some gas,” she said. “I thought we’d be able to get out as soon as the storm was over. These roads have never flooded like this in all the years that I’ve lived here.”
Cindy Evers tries to comfort a pig that was rescued from floodwaters. Credit: AP
Animals were being saved, too. Cindy Evers helped rescue a large pig stuck in high water Friday at a strip mall in Lithia east of Tampa. She had already rescued a donkey and several goats after the storm.
“I’m high and dry where I’m at and I have a barn and nine acres,” said Evers, adding she will soon start to work to find the animals’ owners.
Milton smashed through the heart of Florida’s diminished orange groves. Heaps of fruit were scattered across the ground and trees toppled over after both Milton and Hurricane Helene swept through Polk County and other orange-growing regions, Matt Joyner of trade group Florida Citrus Mutual said Friday.
In Riverview, named because of its proximity to the Alafia River, a small bridge over a creek washed out, blocking Canadian Del Ockey from the home where he spends the six coldest months of the year.
Two planks over the now trickling creek are the only way he can get to his house. He rented a car and parked it on the other side, making a run Friday morning to get gas and fix a chain saw that broke as he was cutting down fallen trees around his home.
Del Ockey says he’s accustomed to hurricanes but this was “big-time”. Credit: AP
Ockey said he’s used to hurricanes, having built his house 26 years ago, but Milton was different.
“We’ve had seven or eight of them come before, but nothing like this one. This was big-time,” Ockey said.
In the western coastal city of Clearwater, Kelvin Glenn said it took less than an hour early on Thursday for water to rise to his waist inside his apartment. He and seven kids, ranging in age from three to 16, were trapped in the floodwaters for three hours before an upstairs neighbour let them in.
Later Thursday, first responders arrived in boats to ferry them away from the building.
“Sitting in that cold nasty water was kind of bad,” Glenn said.
People are rescued from an apartment complex in Clearwater.Credit: AP
Short-term survival is now turning into long-term worries. A hotel is $160 a night. Everything inside Glenn’s apartment is gone. And it can take time to get assistance.
“I ain’t going to say we’re homeless,” Glenn said. “But we’ve got to start all over again.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has enough money to deal with the immediate needs of Milton survivors but will need more, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said on Friday.
AP
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