Florida ports swiped by hurricane Milton’s 120 mph winds began limited reopenings after the storm passed. Water rescues continued across the state as rivers continued running high from the rains up to 18”.
A fishing boat captain trying to repair his disabled vessel was rescued by a Coast Guard aircrew 30 miles off Longboat Key Thursday, where they found the man wearing a life jacket and clinging to a floating cooler.
At a press conference Friday in St. Petersburg, Gov. Ron DeSantis said 1,600 people had been rescued from flooded homes, and operations were continuing in still flooded areas. About 2.4 million homes were still without power, but 1.6 million had been restored to the grid by Friday morning, said DeSantis.
The Tampa Bay region escaped a potentially catastrophic storm surge when shifting winds blew water back out Wednesday night into early Thursday. At least a dozen deaths have been blamed on the storm, most in a swarm of tornados that Milton spawned along Florida’s eastern side, miles away from the Gulf of Mexico landfall.
The National Weather Service continued to issue inland river flood warnings across Milton’s path, and coastal flood warnings continued Friday for Jacksonville south to Flagler County. But Jacksonville port officials reported that, Friday morning, all facilities there had reopened.
North of Milton’s Wednesday landfall near Siesta Key, the Coast Guard Captain of the Port St. Petersburg reopened Port Tampa and Seaport Manatee Thursday with some restrictions. Vessel movements requiring federal pilotage were prohibited, including U.S. vessels over 1,600 gross tons and U.S. petroleum barges over 10,000 gross tons.
Vessels may move only during daylight hours, with minimum visibility of 3 nautical miles, according to the Coast Guard. Intra-port vessel movements such as berth shifts are not restricted.
read more at nationalfisherman.com.
