CORTEZ, Fla. (AP) 鈥� Floridians recovering from , many of whom were journeying home after fleeing hundreds of miles to escape the storm, spent much of Saturday searching for gas as a fuel shortage gripped the state.
In St. Petersburg, scores of people lined up at a station that had no gas, hoping it would arrive soon. Among them was Daniel Thornton and his 9-year-old daughter Magnolia, who arrived at the station at 7 a.m. and were still waiting four hours later.
鈥淭hey told me they have gas coming but they don鈥檛 know when it鈥檚 going to be here,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 have no choice. I have to sit here all day with her until I get gas.鈥�
Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters Saturday morning that the state opened three fuel distribution sites and planned to open several more. Residents can get 10 gallons (37.85 liters) each, free of charge, he said.
鈥淥bviously as power gets restored ... and the Port of Tampa is open, you鈥檙e going to see the fuel flowing. But in the meantime, we want to give people another option,鈥� DeSantis said.
Officials were replenishing area gas stations with the state's fuel stockpiles and provided generators to stations that remained without power.
Disaster hits twice
Those who reached home were assessing the damage and beginning the arduous cleaning process. Some, like Bill O鈥機onnell, a board member at Bahia Vista Gulf in Venice, had thought they were done after the condo association hired companies to gut, treat and dry the units following . Milton undid that work and caused additional damage, O鈥機onnell said.
鈥淚t reflooded everything that was already flooded, brought all the sand back on our property that we removed,鈥� O鈥機onnell said. 鈥淎nd also did some catastrophic wind damage, ripped off many roofs and blew out a lot of windows that caused more damage inside the units.鈥�
The two hurricanes left a ruinous mess in the fishing village of Cortez, a community of 4,100 along the northern edge of Sarasota Bay. Residents of its modest, single-story wood and stucco-fronted cottages were working to remove broken furniture and tree limbs, stacking the debris in the street much like they did after Hurricane Helene.
鈥淓verything is shot,鈥� said Mark Praught, a retired street sweeper for Manatee County, who saw 4-foot (1.2-meter) storm surges during Helene. 鈥淲e鈥檒l replace the electrical and the plumbing and go from there.鈥�
Praught and his wife, Catherine, have lived for 36 years in a low-lying home that now looks like an empty shell. All the furniture had to be discarded, the walls and the brick and tile floors had be scrubbed clean of muck, and drywall had to be ripped out.
Catherine Praught said they felt 鈥減ure panic鈥� when Hurricane Milton menaced Cortez so soon after Helene, forcing them to pause their cleanup and evacuate. Fortunately, their home wasn鈥檛 damaged by the second storm.
鈥淭his is where we live,鈥� Catherine Praught said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just hopeful we get the insurance company to help us.鈥�
In Bradenton Beach, Jen Hilliard scooped up wet sand mixed with rocks and tree roots and dumped the mixture into a wheelbarrow.
鈥淭his was all grass,鈥� Hilliard said of the sandy mess beneath her feet. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to have to make 500 trips of this.鈥�
Hilliard, who moved to Florida six months ago and lives further inland, said she was happy to pitch in and help clean up her friend鈥檚 home a block from the shore in Bradenton Beach
Furniture and household appliances sat outside alongside debris from interior drywall that was removed after Helene sent several feet of storm surge into the house. Inside, walls were gutted up to 4 feet (1.2 meters), exposing the beams underneath.
鈥淵ou roll with the punches,鈥� she said. 鈥淐ommunity is the best part, though. Everybody helping each other.鈥�
Milton killed at least 10 people after it made landfall as a Category 3 storm, tearing across central Florida, flooding barrier islands and . Officials say the toll could have been worse if not for the widespread evacuations.
Overall, more than a thousand people had been rescued in the wake of the storm as of Saturday, DeSantis said.
Property damage and economic costs in the billions
On Sunday, will survey the devastation inflicted on Florida鈥檚 Gulf Coast by . He said he hopes to connect with DeSantis during the visit.
The trip offers Biden another opportunity to press Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to call lawmakers back to Washington to approve more funding during their preelection recess. It鈥檚 something Johnson says he won鈥檛 do.
Biden is making the case that Congress needs to act now to ensure the Small Business Administration and FEMA have the money they need to get through hurricane season, which stretches through November in the Atlantic.
DeSantis welcomed the federal government's approval of a disaster declaration announced Saturday and said he had gotten strong support from Biden.
鈥淗e basically said, you know, you guys are doing a great job. We鈥檙e here for you,鈥� he said when asked about his conversations with Biden. 鈥淲e sent a big request and we got approved for what we wanted.鈥�
Moody鈥檚 Analytics on Saturday estimated economic costs from the storm will range from $50 billion to $85 billion, including upwards of $70 billion in property damage and an economic output loss of up to $15 billion.
Safety threats remain, including rising rivers
As the recovery continues, DeSantis has warned people to be cautious, citing ongoing safety threats including downed power lines and standing water. Some 1.3 million Floridians were still without power by Saturday afternoon, according to .
National Weather Service Meteorologist Paul Close said rivers will 鈥渒eep rising" for the next four or five days resulting in river flooding, mostly around Tampa Bay and northward. Those areas were hit by the most rain, which comes on top of a wet summer that included several earlier hurricanes.
鈥淵ou can't do much but wait,鈥� Close said of the rivers cresting. 鈥淎t least there is no rain in the forecast, no substantial rain. So we have a break here from all our wet weather.鈥�
___
Farrington reported from St. Petersburg. Associated Press journalists Chris O'Meara in Lithia, Florida; Curt Anderson in Tampa; Terry Spencer outside of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Stephany Matat in Fort Pierce, Florida; Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale; and Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed. ___
A previous version of this story misspelled the surname of a couple at a rest stop off Interstate 75 north of Tampa. Their names are Lee and Pamela Essenburm, not Essenbaum.
Russ Bynum, Brendan Farrington And Ty Oneil, The Associated Press
