US President Joe Biden travels to Florida on Sunday to survey the damage caused by Hurricane Milton, which left a trail of destruction with at least 16 dead and thousands of people homeless.
The White House announced in a brief statement that the president will visit hurricane-affected areas in Florida, promising details of the trip soon.
Speaking at the White House after receiving updated information on the impact of Hurricane Milton, Biden stated that calculations of damage caused point to 50 billion dollars (45.7 billion euros), a figure that had also been released this Friday. fair by the financial rating agency Fitch.
“Experts estimate that Milton alone caused around $50 billion in damage,” declared the US president. The hurricane hit the Florida coast on Wednesday night in Siesta Key, near the city of Sarasota, with maximum sustained winds of 205 kilometers per hour, i.e. category 3.
At least 16 people died as a result of Milton’s passage through Florida, according to the most recent report released by police authorities. Damage was widespread and water levels could continue to rise for days, but Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said there was no “worst-case scenario.”
At least 340 people and 49 pets have been rescued in ongoing search and rescue operations, DeSantis said. Authorities in hard-hit Hillsborough, Pinellas, Sarasota and Lee counties in Florida urged people to stay home, warning of downed power lines, trees on roads, blocked bridges and flooding.
Much of the state has experienced power outages, with more than 3.4 million homes and businesses without electricity, according to poweroutage.us, which monitors the US power grid.
Milton is the fifth hurricane to hit the United States this year and the third to affect Florida. Last week, Hurricane Helene was considered the second deadliest hurricane to hit the continental United States in the last 50 years, surpassed only by Katrina, which killed 1,833 people in 2005.
