By Trevor Hunnicutt
ST PETE BEACH, Florida (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday surveyed the damage from Florida’s Hurricane Milton, the second storm to batter the low-lying state in recent weeks as rising floodwaters, fuel shortages and power outages further impacted cleanup efforts.
Milton, which led to at least 17 reported deaths, has added to piles of debris following Hurricane Helene, with electricity and fuel still unavailable in many areas.
Biden’s Marine One helicopter thundered along Florida’s western coast from Tampa to St. Petersburg over a landscape of golf courses, waterfront skyscrapers. The aerial tour showed communities battered by the storm and offered a firsthand view of the shredded roof of Tampa Bay Rays’ baseball stadium, Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.
On the ground, Biden passed entire neighborhoods in St. Pete Beach with debris piled on street corners next to felled palm trees and homes with their pastel-painted garage doors busted as the smell of moldy building materials filled the air.
Heaps of mattresses, siding, couches, microwave ovens, pillows and busted-up kitchen cabinets all lined the island’s roads, some still covered in large patches of sand, as Biden walked through with emergency responders. One photo album still lay scattered in the street.
“Help,” one resident asked Biden in lettering on one pile of household debris.
Biden, touring the area along with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, will also meet with residents before making public remarks.
Flooding is expected to continue around the Tampa Bay and the Sanford area northeast of Orlando as river waters continue to rise, according to the National Weather Service’s website.
More fuel distribution sites are scheduled to open on Sunday, according to the state’s emergency operations center.
Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert said recovery was expected to take a long time as officials continued to restore power more widely and extend more services to barrier islands by late Monday
“It’s still a mess,” she told ABC News’ “This Week” program. “People are coming together. Neighbors are helping neighbors. It’s been heartening to see all of the outpouring of support and help that people have been offering.”
Climate change has been linked to stronger and faster hurricanes, with the two recent back-to-back storms pummeling Florida raising questions of infrastructure resiliency even as many residents vow to stay put. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has said he is unlikely to prevent people from rebuilding in vulnerable areas.
While Milton was not as destructive as officials had initially forecast, analysts have estimated insured losses for between $30 billion and $60 billion.
Biden’s administration has approved federal aid to help residents and local governments cover expenses but has said the Federal Emergency Management Agency would need additional funding from the U.S. Congress even though it has enough now to meet immediate storm needs.
Biden, a Democrat, last week called on lawmakers, who are on recess until after the Nov. 5 election, to return to Washington to approve more FEMA money.
“We need Congress to act swiftly to fund FEMA and specifically its Disaster Relief Fund because hurricane season is not over, and also seasons are less and less important now, given the effects of climate change,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”
But Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday resisted White House and state lawmakers appeals to approve more disaster assistance, telling NBC News’ “Meet the Press” program: “The states have to go and calculate and assess the need and then they submit that to Congress and that takes some time.”
Relief efforts have also been hampered by a trail of misinformation, including conspiracy theories about officials controlling the weather. Politics has also infiltrated recovery with just three weeks to go until the presidential election.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Jarrett Renshaw, Doug Gillison; writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Lisa Shumaker)
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