By Trevor Hunnicutt, Susan Heavey
ST PETE BEACH, Florida/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -After surveying battered communities and debris-filled streets in Florida, President Joe Biden vowed on Sunday to continue supporting the state's recovery from Hurricane Milton, the second major storm to pummel the region in recent weeks.
Rising floodwaters, fuel shortages and power outages are hindering cleanup efforts after Milton, which made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane. The devastation was compounded by the earlier Hurricane Helene. Recovery is expected to take a long time with the two storms hitting within two weeks of each other.
Residents of hard-hit St. Pete Beach are "heartbroken and exhausted and their expenses are piling up,” Biden said after touring the barrier island.
A photo album, mattresses, siding, couches and busted kitchen cabinets were scattered on roads, some still covered in large patches of sand, as Biden walked through with emergency responders. The smell of mold hung in the air.
“Help,” one resident had scrawled across a pile of destroyed household remnants.
"I know you're concerned about the debris removal, and it's obvious why," the president said, speaking in front of a beach house toppled from its foundation. "There's much more to do. We're doing everything we can."
Meanwhile, flooding is expected to continue around the Tampa Bay and the Sanford area northeast of Orlando, according to the National Weather Service.
"Rivers are continuing to rise," Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie told reporters at a separate news conference with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, adding that some residents should prepare to evacuate as needed.
About 75% of Florida's power is back online, with full restoration expected by Tuesday evening, said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who traveled with Biden. Five days after the storm hit, about 818,000 customers remained without power, DeSantis said.
About one-third of Florida's gas stations did not have fuel, including nearly 88% of those around Tampa, GasBuddy.com analyst Patrick De Haan said on X. Six more fuel distribution sites were scheduled to open on Sunday, according to the state's emergency operations center.
Biden had a bird's eye view of the destruction as his helicopter thundered along Florida's western coast from Tampa to St. Petersburg over a landscape of golf courses, waterfront skyscrapers and battered neighborhoods, including the shredded roof of Tampa Bay Rays' baseball stadium, Tropicana Field.
At least 17 deaths have been reported from Milton, far less than the more than 200 people killed by Helene, in part, officials have said, because more people heeded calls to evacuate ahead of the second hurricane.
'A PATH FORWARD'
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 rebuild.
While Milton was less destructive than officials initially forecast, analysts have estimated insured losses of between $30 billion and $60 billion.
Biden has approved federal aid to help residents and local governments cover expenses and on Sunday announced $612 million for six new utility projects in affected communities. But while the Federal Emergency Management Agency has funding to meet immediate needs, his administration is seeking more money from Congress given the potential for more disasters and seven more weeks until the hurricane season ends.
Biden, a Democrat, reiterated his call for U.S. lawmakers — on recess until after the Nov. 5 presidential election — to return to Washington to approve more FEMA money, telling reporters as he left the state Congress needs to move quickly: "It's important."
But Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson 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 by Republican lawmakers and former President Donald Trump, who is challenging U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris for the White House, as politics infiltrates the storm recovery with just three weeks before the election.
A number of local officials greeted or accompanied Biden on his tour, including Florida Republican U.S. Representative Anna Luna. DeSantis, a Republican who also did not attend Biden's last visit following Helene, declined the White House's latest invitation and Biden told reporters that he did not speak with the governor.
DeSantis, speaking to reporters in front of a heap of destroyed office furniture on Treasure Island, did not address Biden's visit. He said the state would remove as much debris as possible within the next three months to take advantage of federal aid.
Floridians and others in the eastern U.S. may get a reprieve as clean up continues. For the first time in several weeks, no active tropical cyclones are forming in the Atlantic Ocean, the National Hurricane Center said on X.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Jarrett Renshaw, Doug Gillison; Chris Prentice, Brad Heath; writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Lisa Shumaker)
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