LITHIA, Florida, USA (AP) — Residents of Florida were making their way through flooded streets, picking up debris, and assessing the damage to their homes on Friday after Hurricane Milton ravaged coastal communities and triggered a deadly outbreak of tornadoes.
At least 10 people died, and rescuers were still saving people from the rising rivers, but many expressed relief that Milton wasn't worse. The hurricane didn't directly hit the densely populated Tampa region, and the deadly storm surge that scientists feared didn't materialize.
However, Governor Ron DeSantis warned people not to let their guard down and pointed out that there are still security threats, such as fallen power lines and stagnant water that could conceal dangerous objects.
"We are in a period where you have deaths that are preventable," DeSantis said on Friday. "You have to make the right decisions and know that there are dangers out there."
By Friday night, the number of customers in Florida still without power had decreased to 1.9 million, according to poweroutage.us. The 260,000 residents of St. Petersburg were asked to boil water before drinking, cooking, or brushing their teeth, at least until Monday.
On the other hand, the owner of a phosphate mine revealed on Friday that pollutants spilled into Tampa Bay during the hurricane.
The company Mosaic reported in a statement that the heavy rains from the storm overloaded a collection system at its facilities in the town of Riverview, causing excess water to flow through a drain and into discharge channels that lead to the bay. The company stated that the leakage was fixed on Thursday.
Mosaic pointed out that the spill was likely larger than 66,244 liters (17,500 gallons) —the minimum standard for reporting—, although they did not provide a specific figure for the total volume that may have been spilled.
Mosaic did not respond to phone calls or emails sent to request additional information about their facilities in Riverview and the company's other mines in Florida. There was also no response to a voicemail left for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The state has 25 of these piles containing more than 1.000 million tons of phosphogypsum - a solid waste derived from the phosphate fertilizer mining industry - which contains radium, that decays to form radon gas. Radium and radon are radioactive and can cause cancer. Phosphogypsum could also contain toxic heavy metals and other carcinogens, such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, and nickel.
Meanwhile, the vital tourism industry of the state began to return to normal, and Walt Disney World and other amusement parks reopened. The state's busiest airport, in Orlando, fully resumed its operations on Friday.
Milton, which hit Florida two weeks after Hurricane Helene passed, flooded the barrier islands, tore off the roof of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball stadium, and knocked down a construction crane.
Hillsborough County Police Department teams helped rescue several people who were trapped by the rising waters of the Alafia River on Friday, including a 92-year-old woman. The river is 25 miles (40 kilometers) long and stretches from the east of Hillsborough County to Tampa Bay.
In Pinellas County, police officers used specialized flood vehicles to transport people to and from their homes in a flooded neighborhood in Palm Harbor where the water was still rising.
Ashley Cabrera left with her 18 and 11-year-old children and their three dogs. It was the first time since Milton arrived that they had been able to leave the neighborhood, and now they were heading to a hotel in Orlando.
"I am extremely grateful that we were able to leave now and go spend the weekend somewhere where we can get hot food and some gasoline," Cabrera pointed out. "I thought we would be able to leave as soon as the storm ended. These roads have never flooded like this in all the years I have lived here."
The animals were also being rescued. Cindy Evers helped rescue a large pig trapped in the waters of a shopping center in Lithia, east of Tampa. She had already rescued a donkey and several goats after the storm.
“I am in a high and dry area where I have a barn and 9 acres,” said Evers, adding that he will soon start looking for the owners of the animals.