Hurricane Milton approaches as Hurricane Helene recovery ramps up

As Hurricane Milton quickly approaches Florida's Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm, many are still recovering from Hurricane Helene. 

Hurricane Helene recovery

Helene made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane. According to ABC News,  Helene "has become the deadliest mainland hurricane since Katrina in 2005."

Asheville, North Carolina, was hit hard by Helene, and recovery efforts are being hampered due to a lack of running water, according to CNN. Additionally, all Asheville City and Buncombe County public schools are closed indefinitely while the water system is repaired.

“Unfortunately, one of the hardest-hit areas of our county was in this area where these transmission lines come from,” Mayor Esther Manheimer told CNN. “Literally this water-flooding event created a canyon with a new river channel that knocked out these lines.”

The mayor told CNN a FEMA crew had to drill a new well to provide water to the city’s main hospital.

In a neighboring state, the South Carolina Emergency Management Divison is bracing for potential coastal flooding and gusty winds from Milton late Wednesday through Thursday, Oct. 10. While the Divison has its eye on Milton, it is also focusing on Helene recovery efforts. 

In an Oct. 7 statement, the division reported 46,663 storm related outages. At the height of the storm over 1.37 million outages were reported. Additionally, the South Carolina Department of Transporation crews are mobilizing to begin work on interstate and primary routes, and the South Carolina National Guard has activated more than 1,200 Soldiers and Airmen, and more than 200 vehicles and aircraft, including hoist and emergency aviation assets, debris removal and high-water vehicles.

And while Florida braces for its second hurricane in two weeks, the damages accruing may strain resources throughout the state.

“Another hurricane is going to strain an already strained system,” said Sarah Labowitz, a disaster expert and nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to the Washington Post. “Two storms this close together in a similar region are going to put a strain on all aspects of the system, from funding to technology to personnel.”

Hurricane Milton updates

According to AP, Helene came ashore about 150 miles away from Tampa in the Florida Panhandle and caused drowning deaths in the area due to surges of around 5 to 8 feet above normal tide levels.

Now, Hurricane Milton is projected to make landfall Wednesday, Oct. 9 as a Category 3 hurricane near the Tampa Bay region. Though Milton is forecast to weaken from a Category 4 to 3 storm before making landfall, it will double in size. 

"Its dangerous eye and eyewall could come ashore in the Tampa area and unleash record storm surge and become the worst storm to hit the city in over 100 years," CNN reported. 

According to AP, forecasters have warned of a possible 10- to 15-foot  storm surge in Tampa Bay, which is the highest ever predicted for that location.