Live updates: Long road ahead as Tampa Bay recovers from Milton’s wrath

Battered and bruised by Hurricane Milton, Tampa Bay found itself picking up the pieces from another major storm just two weeks after the last one.

The road to recovery promises to be a long one. Although the area was spared from the worst storm surge threat, extreme winds wreaked havoc from Tropicana Field to the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre. Biblical rainfall left inland residents stranded and laid waste to area sewage and drinking water systems.

At least 16 deaths have been reported across the state, including three in Tampa Bay. Hundreds of thousands remain without power.

Here’s where you can find resources, including food, FEMA and Wi-Fi.

And here’s how you can help hurricane victims in Tampa Bay and beyond.

Follow along for the latest developments.

8:58 a.m. Floodwater remains in Lake Maggiore

As the sun rose Friday morning, St. Petersburg’s Lake Maggiore was still flooded. The water level was down a little from the previous afternoon, but it was still high enough on Ivanhoe Way on the northeast side of the lake to flood a Ford Ranger pickup.

“Oh no. It’s still in my yard,” Lonnie Daniels said of the water as he walked south on Dr. Martin Luther King Street into the intersection of 26th Avenue South, the edge of the flooding on the north side of the lake.

Daniels, 45, evacuated for Hurricane Milton and the flooding prevented him from getting to his one-story home that fronts MLK Street since Monday. On Friday morning, the water was still in his yard and under his carport, which the storm’s high winds had caved in on one side. He thought the inside of his home was likely flooded.

“The water never stays on the streets this long,” he said. “It’s like the lake is trying to reclaim its territory.”

A man riding a bicycle north through the water on MLK Street approached the intersection where Daniels surveyed the flooding.

“The trick is to stay in the middle of the street and don’t turn left or right,” the man told Daniels. “The water gets high as hell if you leave the center line.”

Daniels’ family has owned the home on the south side of St. Petersburg since the 1970s. Many of the families he remembers from childhood still live in neighboring homes. The woman across the street would tell on him when he took out his mother’s car.

“It’s that kind of place,” he said. “People looking out for each other.”

Daniels, looking across the flood waters to the home he couldn’t yet reach, said he turns 46 on Saturday.

“Not the best kind of birthday,” he said.

– Graham Brink

8:25 a.m. Many Pasco roads still closed due to flooding

While the worst of Milton’s wind and rain has passed, many Pasco County residents now are contending with flooding as water moves through the rivers in their neighborhoods.

County emergency officials are particularly watching the Anclote River in west Pasco, which is expected to crest at 26.7 feet at around 2 p.m. and then slowly subside over the coming days.

The record flood level for the Anclote was 27.7 feet in 1945. The river reached 20.7 feet in August after Hurricane Debby.

Already, Trinity Boulevard has been closed for flooding over 6 feet, along with several other side roads in the Elfers-Anclote area near Mitchell High School.

The County also is keeping an eye on Cypress Creek in the Lutz-Wesley Chapel area, with a handful of nearby streets being closed because of flooding.

Keep track of the latest road closures here.

“As water comes in and people need help, our fire rescue crews are out there staging right now,” county spokesperson Sarah Andeara said Friday morning. “As they need help we are ready.”

Crews made some rescues already on Thursday.

The county is keeping two public shelters open — River Ridge High School, 11646 Town Center Rd, New Port Richey, and the Fasano Regional Hurricane Shelter, 11611 Denton Ave, Hudson — for anyone fleeing the rising river.

— Jeffrey S. Solochek

• • •

Tampa Bay Times hurricane coverage 2024

5 things to know about the 2024 hurricane season, according to forecasters.

Forecasters predict ‘extremely active’ 2024 hurricane season. Here’s why.

Want to know what areas are flooding in Tampa Bay? Here’s where to look.

Checklists for building all kinds of storm kits.