ST. PETE BEACH – Returning to a beleaguered state battered by back-to-back hurricanes, President Joe Biden was scheduled to land in Florida Sunday to again survey the damage from a major storm and rally federal resources around a recovery effort that likely will take years and billions of dollars.
Biden was in Florida just 10 days earlier to assess the impact of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in the Big Bend region as a Category 4 storm before cutting a swath of destruction north through Georgia, North Carolina and other states.
The president is headed back to the state after Hurricane Milton made landfall Oct. 9 on Siesta Key as a Category 3 storm, delivering a second powerful blow.
Biden is flying into MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa before meeting with state and local officials and touring damage in St. Pete Beach.
Between Helene and Milton, much of the West Coast of Florida – from the small, coastal towns of Steinhatchee and Cedar Key down through the heavily populated Tampa Bay region, Sarasota and points south – has experienced extensive storm damage.
Milton also battered parts of Central Florida and the East Coast. More than one million people were still without power in Florida as of Saturday, some communities don’t have running water and gasoline shortages remain a problem.
Storm surge flooding devastated coastal areas. Some regions also have extensive wind damage, including from a rash of tornados spawned by Milton, and flooding from heavy rains.
The hurricanes also spawned a political squall, as Republicans led by former President Donald Trump accused the Biden administration of not doing enough to help storm victims, prompting fierce pushback from the president as Election Day approaches in three weeks.
Before Biden’s visit Sunday, the White House put out a release highlighting a long list of actions taken before and after both hurricanes to get federal resources to affected communities.
Biden planned to announce more aid Sunday – $614 million in federal grants to communities to improve their electric grids, including $94 million for Florida.
Part-time St Pete Beach resident Paul Giardina was happy to see the president in town, saying he hopes it speeds recovery efforts. Giardina lives in one-story condo building with seven units near where Biden planned to speak in front of a collapsed house. His property was spared significant damage from both Helene and Milton.
Helene sent about half an inch of water into the building, ruining a bed, rugs and other items. Milton tore off some roof shingles. But Giardina is grateful the storms didn’t do more damage, noting a house behind him lost the roof, and a condo building next door had more than three feet of water.
“We were the lucky ones,” he said.
Giardina lives in Lenox, Massachusetts, during the summer, where he owns an excavating business. He has wintered in St. Pete beach for the last six years with two brothers, three cousins and a friend in the same condo building they purchased together.
He arrived in Florida one day after Helene to check on the property, paying a 13 year old $50 to give him a ride on a jet ski to the island community. While his property weathered both storms well, the overall community was devastated.
“It’s pretty horrifying,” Giardina said. “Like a war zone, anything within two blocks of the beach.”
Debris was piled everywhere around St Pete Beach Sunday. Most businesses were closed, and many were still boarded up.
St. Pete Beach is in Pinellas County, where Cathi Perkins works as emergency management director. About half of the county is still without electricity after Milton, she said as she walked down the street toward the empty lot where Biden was scheduled to speak Sunday.
The community is tired and frustrated, Perkins said, but it’s encouraging to know more help is on the way.
“We’re just very grateful that both the state and federal governments are here to help us and provide us with resources,” Perkins added. “I think it means a lot to people to see that we’re not alone.”
