More than 40 homes damaged miles away from landfall

ARCADIA — DeSoto County has identified 42 homes damaged by Hurricane Milton as of Thursday afternoon, according to officials.

Of that number, 34 were reported to have "some damage," seven with "minor damage," and one with "major damage."

In a news release on Thursday, county authorities also reported that both shelters operated during the storm had been closed.

"At the peak Wednesday night, there were 527 people in the general population shelter and 73 in the special needs shelter," the release read.

The numbers provided for damaged homes are what was assessed by first responders by 4 p.m. Thursday.

The DeSoto County Landfill will open to the public starting on Saturday, running from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Womack Sanitation will resume normal curbside pickup on Friday and Monday, but will not take yard debris or white goods.

Residents with yard debris are asked to not stack the debris at the curbside.

The county is offering assistance to local residents caring for livestock; those requesting assistance can can call 863-993-5460 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.; outside of those hours, call 386-397-2732.

DeSoto County residents can also call the State Assistance Information Line at 1-800-342-3557. The phone line is open 24/7 and provides translation for English, Spanish, and Haitian-Creole speakers.

State and local authorities are currently asking for information about property damage in the wake of Hurricane Milton.

The survey can be found online at:

tinyurl.com/9wv4h7rm

Those seeking internet connectivity for communications can access Comcast's Xfinity Wifi publicly, whether or not they are currently customers.

Information about Comcast service restoration can be found at:

tinyurl.com/496xehj9

Florida Power & Light customers can report an outage or check restoration status by calling 1-800-468-8243.