Disasters are now affecting record numbers of people and threatening their lives and livelihoods, says U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Kamal Kishore

Mr. Kishore said Asia Pacific countries should regularly dedicate funds in their national budgets for the reduction of disaster risk and should allocate a larger proportion of foreign development aid to disaster prevention and “not simply response.” Such investments have brought down death tolls, he said. “They do die, but the mortality is coming down compared to before,” Mr. Kishore added in an interview on the sidelines of the Manila conference.

Discussions focused on better disaster-warning systems, sharing of technology and building more resilient infrastructure, houses and workplaces.

The Philippines, which is co-hosting the Manila conference, has been in the crosshairs of disasters given its location as an archipelago sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea, where about 20 typhoons and storms blow across each year. It’s also in the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where volcanic eruptions and earthquakes have long been a constant threat.

“These are compounded by the increasing frequencies of hazards brought about by climate change, which makes the Philippines at risk and our landscape even more,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told the conference in a keynote speech.

With better access to financing, technology and data, the most vulnerable states could build better resilience, Marcos said.

European Union Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic attended the U.N. disaster-mitigation conference in Manila because he said closer international cooperation was the only way for nations from Asia to Europe to confront “a new reality” of “unprecedented frequency and intensity of weather-related disasters.” “None of us will be able to face these new challenges alone,” Mr. Lenarcic told The Associated Press in an interview. “These disasters know no boundaries.”

Since 2020, the EU has allocated more than 80 million euros ($87 million) to the Asia Pacific region to help finance disaster preparedness and mitigation efforts, Lenarcic said, and he urged wealthier countries to contribute more to such campaigns.

“This region has gained a lot of experience in facing disasters, in building resilience, and we would like to learn also the experiences from this region,” he said of the Philippines and other Asian countries. “It’s a two-way street.”

Florida residents slogged through flooded streets, gathered up scattered debris, and assessed damage to their homes on Friday after Hurricane Milton smashed through coastal communities and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes.

At least 10 people were dead, and rescuers were still saving people from swollen rivers, but many expressed relief that Milton wasn’t worse. The hurricane spared densely populated Tampa a direct hit, and the lethal storm surge that scientists feared never materialized.

Gov. Ron DeSantis warned people to not let down their guard, however, citing ongoing safety threats including downed power lines and standing water that could hide dangerous objects.

“We’re now in the period where you have fatalities that are preventable,” Mr. DeSantis said. “You have to make the proper decisions and know that there are hazards out there.”

About 2.2 million customers remained without power in the State, according to poweroutage.us. St. Petersburg’s 260,000 residents were told to boil water before drinking, cooking, or brushing their teeth, until at least Monday.

On Friday, the owner of a major phosphate mine disclosed that pollution spilled into Tampa Bay during the hurricane.

The Mosaic Company said in a statement that heavy rains from the storm overwhelmed a collection system at its Riverview site, pushing excess water out of a manhole and into discharges that lead to the bay. The company said the leak was fixed Thursday.

Mosaic said the spill likely exceeded a 17,500-gallon minimum reporting standard, though it did not provide a figure for what the total volume might have been.

Calls and emails to Mosaic seeking additional information about Riverview and the company’s other Florida mines received no response, as did a voicemail left with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

The State has 25 such stacks containing more than 1 billion tons of phosphogypsum, a solid waste byproduct of the phosphate fertilizer mining industry that contains radium, which decays to form radon gas. Both radium and radon are radioactive and can cause cancer. Phosphogypsum may also contain toxic heavy metals and other carcinogens, such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury and nickel.

Florida’s vital tourism industry has started to return to normal, meanwhile, as Walt Disney World and other theme parks reopened. The state’s busiest airport, in Orlando, resumed full operations Friday.

Arriving just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene, Milton flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays ‘ baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane.

Crews from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office on Friday were assisting with rescues of people, including a 92-year-old woman, who were stranded in rising waters along the Alafia River. The river is 25 miles (40km) long and runs from eastern Hillsborough County, east of Tampa, into Tampa Bay.

In Pinellas County, deputies used high-water vehicles to shuttle people back and forth to their homes in a flooded Palm Harbor neighborhood where waters continued to rise.

Ashley Cabrera left with her 18- and 11-year-old sons and their three dogs, Eeyore, Poe and Molly. It was the first time since Milton struck that they had been able to leave the neighborhood, and they were now headed to a hotel in Orlando.

“I’m extremely thankful that we could get out now and go for the weekend somewhere we can get a hot meal and some gas,” Ms. Cabrera said. “I thought we’d be able to get out as soon as the storm was over. These roads have never flooded like this in all the years that I’ve lived here.”

Animals were being saved, too. Cindy Evers helped rescue a large pig stuck in high water at a strip mall in Lithia, east of Tampa. She had already rescued a donkey and several goats after the storm.

“I’m high and dry where I’m at, and I have a barn and 9 acres,” Ms. Evers said, adding that she will soon start to work to find the animals’ owners.

In the Gulf Coast city of Venice, Milton left behind several feet of sand in some beachfront condos, with one unit nearly filled. A swimming pool was packed full of sand, with only its handrails poking out.

Some warnings were heeded and lessons learned. When 8 feet (2.4 meters) of seawater flooded Punta Gorda during Hurricane Helene last month, 121 people had to be rescued, Mayor Lynne Matthews said. Milton brought at least 5 feet (1.5 meters) of flooding, but rescuers only had to save three people.

“So people listened to the evacuation order,” Mr. Matthews said.

Heaps of fruit were scattered across the ground and trees toppled over after both Milton and Hurricane Helene swept through Polk County and other orange-growing regions, Matt Joyner of trade group Florida Citrus Mutual said Friday.

Milton arrived at the start of the orange growing season, so it is still too early to evaluate the full scope of the damage.

Florida has already seen orange production diminish over the years, with the industry still recovering from hurricanes of years past while also waging an ongoing battle against a deadly greening disease. Milton could be the knockout punch for some growers, Mr. Joyce said.

In the western coastal city of Clearwater, Kelvin Glenn said it took less than an hour early Thursday for water to rise to his waist inside his apartment. He and seven children, ranging in age from 3 to 16, were trapped in the brown, foul floodwaters for about three hours before an upstairs neighbor opened their home to them.

Later that day, first responders arrived in boats to ferry them away from the building.

“Sitting in that cold, nasty water was kind of bad,” Mr. Glenn said.

Short-term survival is now turning into long-term worries. A hotel is $160 a night. Everything inside Mr. Glenn’s apartment is gone. And it can take time to get assistance.

“I ain’t going to say we’re homeless,” Mr. Glenn said. “But we’ve got to start all over again.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has enough money to deal with the immediate needs of people impacted by Helene and Milton but will need additional funding at some point, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said Friday.

The disaster assistance fund helps pay for the swift response to hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and other disasters. Congress recently replenished the fund with $20 billion — the same amount as last year.

At least 10 people died as Hurricane Milton sent tornadoes spinning across Florida, officials said Thursday (October 11, 2024) as the State grappled with flooding, power outages, and other woes from a milder-than-expected storm that many had feared would be catastrophic.

The hurricane blasted across the State late Wednesday before roaring into the Atlantic, leaving behind roads blocked by downed trees and power lines. It shredded the roof of a baseball stadium in Tampa. Some three million homes and businesses were without power.

So far, though, it appeared that tornadoes, rather than floodwaters, have been responsible for the storm’s deaths.

“It was pretty scary,” said Susan Stepp, a 70-year-old resident of Fort Pierce, a city on Florida’s east coast where four people in a senior living community died after a tornado spawned by Milton struck Wednesday (October 9).

“They did find some people just outside dead, in a tree,” she told AFP. “I wish they would have evacuated.”

Also Read: Hurricane Helene’s death toll reaches 200 as crews try to reach the most remote areas hit by the storm

The deaths are five in St. Lucie County, three in Volusia County and two in the city of St. Petersburg, local authorities said. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters the deaths were caused by the tornadoes.

In Polk County, a member of a road crew was struck and killed by a colleague’s vehicle as he removed a downed tree.

Her husband Bill said a tornado “picked up my 22-ton motor home and threw it across the yard.”

“Scary and heartbreaking at the same time, to see much damage and all things you really love just gone, but it’s only things and we’re still here,” the 72-year-old said.

The southeastern U.S. State was able to avoid the level of catastrophic devastation that officials had feared.

“The storm was significant, but thankfully this was not the worst-case scenario,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told a news conference.

Milton made landfall on the Florida Gulf Coast as a major Category 3 storm, with powerful winds smashing communities still reeling from Hurricane Helene which hit only two weeks ago, killing 237 people in Florida and other southeast states.

The National Weather Service issued 126 tornado warnings across the State Wednesday, the most ever issued for a single calendar day for the state in records dating back to 1986, wrote hurricane expert Michael Lowry.

As of Thursday evening, rescue operations continued as workers evacuated residents stranded by floodwaters in the Clearwater, near Tampa.

“We don’t know whether we can come back,” Justino Torres, 58, told AFP shortly after crews evacuated him from a building.

“I’m going to leave it in the hands of God.”

In nearby Sarasota Bay, Kristin Joyce, a 72-year-old interior designer who did not evacuate either, took photos of tree branches snapped by the wind.

“There is no question it needs to be a serious wake-up call for everyone in terms of climate change,” she said, surveying the damage.

Scientists say extreme rainfall and destructive storms are occurring with greater severity and frequency as temperatures rise due to climate change. As warmer ocean surfaces release more water vapor, they provide more energy for storms as they form.

Biden fury at Trump

President Joe Biden, who said he spoke with DeSantis Thursday, urged people to stay inside in the aftermath of the storm, with downed power lines and debris creating dangerous conditions.

In a video posted on social media, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump said he and his wife Melania were praying for Florida residents affected by the storm and urged them to vote for him.

“Hopefully, on January 20th you’re going to have somebody that’s really going to help you and help you like never before,” the former president said, referring to the Presidential inauguration date.

Hurricane Helene struck Florida late last month, and the back-to-back storms have become election fodder as Trump spreads conspiracy theories claiming Biden and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris are abandoning victims.

That prompted a furious response from Biden who on Wednesday called Trump “reckless, irresponsible.”

‘Lucky’

In Cocoa Beach, on Florida’s east coast, one tornado swept in from the ocean, blowing out almost all the windows of a hair salon and tearing a chunk of roof off a bank.

Katherine and Larry Hingle said they were on their porch, watching water from a nearby river rise, when the tornado came through Wednesday evening.

“I said ‘it sounds like a train’s coming,'” Katherine, 53, told AFP while out to walk their dog and survey the damage.

In Sarasota, resident Carrie Elizabeth expressed the feelings of many — that despite the violent night, Milton was not quite as bad as had been feared.

“I feel that we’re very lucky,” she said. “It’ll take a long time to clean up, but it could have been much worse.”