ELLENTON, Fla. (AP) — Florida counties hard hit by Hurricane Milton are returning to a semblance of normalcy, with power restored to most areas on Monday, gas stations reopening and students preparing to return to school.
Still, some neighborhoods remained without power, with many severely damaged homes and businesses, their streets flooded and filled with debris.
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Pike Corporation linemen, of North Carolina, repair power lines damaged by Hurricane Milton Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Pike Corporation linemen, of North Carolina, repair power lines damaged by Hurricane Milton Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Pike Corporation linemen, of North Carolina, repair power lines damaged by Hurricane Milton Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Property owners who preferred not to be named assess damage to their home and business, which bears orange notices calling for demolition, after the passage of Hurricane Milton, on Manasota Key in Englewood, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Neighbors help take down a tree felled by winds from Hurricane Milton, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Pike Corporation linemen, from North Carolina, work on power lines damaged by Hurricane Milton Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Pike Corporation linemen, of North Carolina, repair electricity damaged by Hurricane Milton Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
A large fallen tree pins down power lines in Ellenton, Fla., on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)
Pike Corporation linemen, of North Carolina, repair power lines damaged by Hurricane Milton Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Pike Corporation linemen from North Caolina, repair power pole damaged by Hurricane Milton Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
But on the whole, things were looking up.
Florida power companies had restored electricity to about 93% of the 3.4 million homes and businesses that lost service after Milton made landfall late Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane south of Tampa, smacking the region with 120 mph (205 kph) winds and a storm surge of up to 10 feet (3 meters).
At least 11 people died less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene inflicted major damage in Florida and other Southeastern states. The death toll from Helene is more than 240.
The three major power companies in the area hit by Milton deployed thousands of workers to quickly repair lines, poles and other infrastructure.
“I know those guys got in and started working as soon as it was possible,” Gov. Ron DeSantis told a Monday news conference at SeaPort Manatee, just south of Tampa Bay. He said the recovery has been “very rapid and we appreciate what they’ve been able to do.”
Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy and TECO Energy also credited efforts over the last decade to put more power lines underground, install stronger utility poles and adopt technology that enables electricity to be rerouted around damaged equipment.
Areas that remain flooded will be the last to get power, and homes with damaged electrical systems won’t be able to receive it, the companies said.
“Electricity and water don’t mix, so we cannot reenergize until the water has receded to ensure the safety of those customers,” Duke spokesperson Ana Gibbs said.
Gerome Ozias was startled Sunday night when power came back after four days to his home in Palmetto, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Tampa. He had been prepared to wait much longer. As he sat on his shaded front porch Monday with his daughter and another relative, air conditioning units hummed from several windows.
“I’m surprised, but I’m happy, too.” said Ozias, who emigrated from Haiti nearly three decades ago. With power for his refrigerator, he replaced the food that had spoiled.
Lines are mostly gone at gas stations. DeSantis said about 12 million gallons (45 million liters) of fuel was brought in over the four days since the storm. That helped replenish stations that ran out of gas before Milton arrived. The state has also opened a dozen sites in the Tampa Bay area where it is giving away about 2 million gallons of fuel.
According to the fuel tracking website and app GasBuddy, about half of the Tampa Bay area's gas stations had fuel on Monday afternoon. On Friday, less than a quarter did.
Indicative of the improved conditions was a line at a Palmetto car wash, where David Washington used a towel to dry and buff his now-sparkling blue Ford F-150. The pickup had been spattered with mud from driving through soggy areas as Washington checked on relatives after the two storms.
“You clean your car and get inside, it just makes you feel so much better,” said Washington, a lifelong Floridian.
Most school districts in the hardest-hit areas plan to reopen campuses Wednesday, though Manatee County plans to reopen its schools on Tuesday. In Hillsborough County, which contains Tampa, schools held cleanup events on Monday.
“We had school staff, families and other volunteers out cleaning up debris on the campus. It was an amazing show of community,” district spokesperson Tanya Arja said. About a third of the district’s 304 schools remain without power and a dozen still have standing water, she said.
DeSantis has cautioned that debris removal from Helene and Milton could take up to a year, even as Florida shifts nearly 3,000 workers to the cleanup. The federal government has approved 100% federal reimbursement for those efforts for 90 days.
Including damage done by Helene in other states, Moody’s estimates that combined privately insured losses for the two storms range between $35 billion and $55 billion. That’s only insured loss, and doesn’t include the federal flood insurance program.
Unlike Ozias’ neighborhood, Chuck Porter’s neighborhood in nearby Ellenton remained without power Monday afternoon.
A snapped power pole was still lying across the yard of a nearby home. A large, uprooted tree still pinned down power lines near the neighborhood entrance. Utility crew trucks passed without stopping, since they couldn’t do any repair work yet.
Still, Porter, a retiree who has lived in the community nearly 70 years, wasn’t complaining. Porter and his wife, Nancy, were staying with their daughter nearby. His power company says his service should be restored by Wednesday night, but even a little delay won’t bother him.
“By the end of the week, we’ll be fine,” Porter said.
On Monday, the Porters were still cleaning out their home, which flooded knee-deep and got swamped with muck when Helene struck more than two weeks ago.
It was Milton’s winds that knocked out power lines to the neighborhood and ripped shingles from Porter’s roof. But the wind damage to his home was minimal. The Key West-style bar he built himself in the backyard survived intact, with its neon signs and displays of hanging baseball bats and guitar-shaped bottle openers undisturbed.
Still, the water damage inside was extensive. He was replacing his air-conditioner, refrigerator and other appliances.
“Salt water just destroys everything,” Porter said. “Any light sockets that got wet, they’ll have to rip them out.”
And many of his neighbors had it worse he said: Homes one street closer to the river flooded with sewage.
“It’s going to be like this for six months or more” before all the storm damage gets repaired, he said. “Insurance pays for it. It’s just time-consuming.”
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Anderson reported from St. Petersburg. AP writers Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale and Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee contributed to this report.
Pike Corporation linemen, of North Carolina, repair power lines damaged by Hurricane Milton Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Pike Corporation linemen, of North Carolina, repair power lines damaged by Hurricane Milton Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Pike Corporation linemen, of North Carolina, repair power lines damaged by Hurricane Milton Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Property owners who preferred not to be named assess damage to their home and business, which bears orange notices calling for demolition, after the passage of Hurricane Milton, on Manasota Key in Englewood, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Neighbors help take down a tree felled by winds from Hurricane Milton, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Pike Corporation linemen, from North Carolina, work on power lines damaged by Hurricane Milton Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Pike Corporation linemen, of North Carolina, repair electricity damaged by Hurricane Milton Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
A large fallen tree pins down power lines in Ellenton, Fla., on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)
Pike Corporation linemen, of North Carolina, repair power lines damaged by Hurricane Milton Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Pike Corporation linemen from North Caolina, repair power pole damaged by Hurricane Milton Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana's GOP-dominated House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed individual and corporate tax cuts, along with a constitutional amendment — all key provisions in Gov. Jeff Landry's sweeping tax reform package, the centerpiece of the state's third special legislative session of the year.
The House voted 87-12 to flatten individual income tax to 3%, while increasing the standard deduction to $12,500 for individual taxpayers.
Pushback came entirely from Democratic lawmakers, some of whom have argued that they consider the reforms to provide only token relief to lower-income households while leading to a $1 billion annual revenue hole.
Republican Rep. Julie Emerson, the bill's sponsor, said the individual income tax cuts are necessary to spur economic growth, staunch outward migration and keep Louisiana competitive with nearby states like Florida and Texas which have no income tax.
Other bills, set to be voted on by the House later this week, would attempt to offset the proposed individual income tax cuts by ending a range of tax exemptions and expanding sales taxes across dozens of services, from dog-grooming to lobbying, as well as digital goods like Netflix and other streaming platforms. It would also make permanent a 0.45% sales tax and 2% business utilities tax that had been set to expire.
“I think that we are allowing our citizens to make a choice as to how they pay their taxes by choosing the services and the goods that they purchase,” Emerson told her colleagues on the House floor.
The House also voted to repeal the 0.275% corporate franchise tax — essentially a levy on conducting business in the state — which Republican lawmakers have decried as dampening investment prospects.
Democratic House Minority Leader Rep. Matthew Willard indicated the benefits of this tax cut, which would cost the state more than $500 million in annual revenue, would go to the shareholders of large corporations who are likely not based in the state.
Emerson countered it will go to businesses that “create jobs in Louisiana.” Supporters have pointed out that the vast majority of revenue from the tax is not allocated to the state's general fund. They say abolishing it would not have a significant impact on budget decisions.
The House voted favorably on another bill aimed to court businesses, passing legislation incentivizing local governments to exempt taxes on corporate assets in exchange for one-time payments from the state between $1 million and $15 million.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, representing parishes heavily reliant on those taxes for funding schools and law enforcement, expressed skepticism that local governments would take the bait.
“Why would they ever opt out of something like this, where they're going to give up a revenue stream that's existing in exchange for a one-time buyout,” Republican Rep. Michael Robert Bayham said in an Oct. 10 committee hearing to discuss the bill.
“I think the inventory tax really punishes all the businesses that are there,” Department of Revenue Secretary Richard Nelson said.
The exemption would offer an incentive for businesses to locate in less economically developed parts of the state and would likely be a worthwhile tradeoff for parishes with small amounts of existing corporate asset revenue, he added.
Along with advancing the tax cuts, the House voted in favor of a constitutional amendment intended to simplify the state's convoluted tax code.
The amendment would enable a proposed $2,000 permanent teacher salary raise by removing constitutional protections for several education trust funds and drawing on their assets to pay off early approximately $2 billion in debt owed to the state's teacher retirement fund.
In addition, the amendment allows for the merger of two rainy day funds, leaving less money locked away for savings and more corporate tax and mineral revenue available for spending. It also doubles standard tax deductions for seniors, eliminates local taxes on prescription drugs and requires the legislature to reach a two-thirds majority for future tax breaks.
House lawmakers passed another bill, introduced by Republican Rep. Brett Geymann, which would place limits on how much the Legislature could allocate for recurring expenses each year.
The bills will now advance to the Senate for review. On Wednesday, the House is scheduled to debate proposed sales taxes intended to help pay for the tax cuts.
Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96
FILE - Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry speaks during the start of the special session in the House Chamber, Jan. 15, 2024, in Baton Rouge, La. (Michael Johnson/The Advocate via AP, Pool, File)
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, from right, speaks with his Deputy Chief of Staff, Legislative Affairs Lance Maxwell and legislative liaison Richard Brazan on the House floor during a special legislative session, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge, La. (Hilary Scheinuk/The Advocate via AP)