FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Kathryn Tapper was worried about the havoc Hurricane Milton could bring to her home in Naples, so she drove to a friend’s house in Wellington to try to find safe shelter.

Instead, she ended up hiding in the bathroom from a tornado that hit close to 5 p.m. Wednesday. The twister heavily damaged her friend’s house in...Read more

Insurance analysis firm Fitch Ratings said on Thursday that losses from Hurricane Milton will further weaken the “precarious position” of Florida’s property insurance market and possibly lead to “hardening” of premiums for policyholders next year.

Hardening is an insurance term that means premiums could rise.

Milton spawned high ...Read more

Over the past two weeks, two massive hurricanes have killed more than 240 people and caused tens of billions of dollars of damage in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and other states.

California struggles every year with plenty of disasters — including devastating earthquakes, wildfires and floods. But it doesn’t have hurricanes. Why not?

...Read more

Tussling ratcheted up between the White House and GOP leaders on Thursday over when Congress needs to return to take up emergency disaster relief for victims of the twin hurricanes that have battered southern states in recent days, including twice-hit Florida.

While there’s been substantial confusion and misinformation about the Federal ...Read more

TAMPA BAY, Fla. — The surge went south, the water was sucked out of Tampa Bay, but the winds hit us dead on.

Overnight Wednesday, Hurricane Milton’s sustained winds of more than 100 mph shredded Tropicana Field’s roof, uprooted grown trees, snapped power lines and toppled a massive crane into the headquarters of the Tampa Bay Times in ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Roberto Ramirez returned Thursday morning from his overnight shift in a local hospital to find water up to his knees in front of his Altamonte Springs home.

The scene has become all too familiar to Ramirez and other residents of Spring Oaks, a neighborhood west of Interstate 4 that floods during major storms.

”It brings ...Read more

TAMPA BAY, Fla. — Search and rescue teams fanned across Florida on Thursday morning plucking residents of flooded homes to safety after Hurricane Milton barreled into central west Florida, striking a densely populated coastline with storm surges up to 10 feet and 120-mph winds and pummeling communities across the state with deadly tornadoes. ...Read more

MIAMI — More than 3 million people are without power statewide. Roofs are ripped off from coast to coast, including one over the Tropicana Field baseball stadium in St. Petersburg. Parts of Sarasota, Fort Myers and other Gulf Coast communities are underwater, flooded by up to 6 feet of storm surge. Homes and buildings exploded from a record-...Read more

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said Thursday evening that debris piles from flooded houses becaue of Hurricane Helene two weeks ago “did not significantly add to the problem.”

The problem, he said, was that hundreds of trees fell down during Hurricane Milton’s high-speed winds overnight Wednesday, reportedly ...Read more

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Carmen Harrell stood next to the space where her 82-year-old father’s manufactured home used to be and wondered if it was worth trying to find his Navy yearbook.

She had picked him up from Spanish Lakes Country Club Village about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. Just a half-hour later, the first tornado barreled through, damaging ...Read more

You may have read the falsehoods spread on social media suggesting people, not nature, created Hurricane Helene.

Though people do have the means to encourage rainfall on a small scale, no technology exists that would allow anyone to create a hurricane, experts say.

That’s because hurricanes require massive amounts of energy to form, ...Read more

MIAMI — More than 3 million people are without power statewide. Roofs are ripped off from coast to coast, including one over the Tropicana Field baseball stadium in St. Petersburg. Parts of Sarasota, Fort Myers and other Gulf Coast communities are underwater, flooded by up to 6 feet of storm surge. Homes and buildings exploded from a record-...Read more

MIAMI — As emergency crews respond in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton over the next few days, they’ll have to deal with a lot of dangers in the damage along the Gulf Coast — downed power lines, unstable ruins, leaking natural gas tanks and pipe lines, chemical spills and more.

There is one other growing concern that is unique to coastal...Read more

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took a fresh pot shot at Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday on the morning after Hurricane Milton ripped through the state.

The Republican governor defended his decision not to take calls from Harris, saying the vice president should not “inject herself” into the storm response and recovery effort.

“She’...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday that while Hurricane Milton has been destructive, it could have been a lot worse, as the state focused efforts on recovery hours after the storm moved away from the state.

He spoke from the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office in Fort Pierce, which was among the damaged structures amid a spate ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Hurricane Milton made landfall on Siesta Key on the Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday night as a major Category 3 hurricane with 120 mph winds as the state endured an assault of at least 19 tornadoes that resulted in multiple deaths. It never lost hurricane strength as it crossed the state exiting near Cape Canaveral on Thursday ...Read more

DENVER — Last month’s East Coast hurricane could mean hospitals in Colorado will need to urge patients to try water or electrolyte drinks before using an IV line to keep them hydrated.

Hurricane Helene flooded and severely damaged a plant in North Carolina owned by Baxter International. The company manufactures about 1.5 million bags of ...Read more

MIAMI — As Taylor Swift gears up to play in Miami next weekend, she is already helping the folks in Florida reeling from back to back hurricanes.

The pop star has donated $5 million in relief efforts for communities struggling in the wake of monster storms Helene, which walloped the Big Bend last month, and Milton, which made landfall on ...Read more

MIAMI — At least four people died in an unprecedented wave of tornadoes that swirled across Florida ahead of the arrival of Category 3 Hurricane Milton, which crossed the state from Sarasota to the Space Coast Wednesday evening.

A series of twisters that struck St. Lucie County left at least four dead and, in a display of their power, ripped ...Read more

MIAMI — Miami-Dade and Broward county schools announced on Thursday that classes will resume Friday after two days of closures in anticipation of Hurricane Milton.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools announced that all public schools and facilities will reopen Friday and all Adult Education classes, after-care programs, athletics and school ...Read more