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Tag: Tropical cyclones

  • 50 dead, dozens feared missing as storm lashes Philippines

    50 dead, dozens feared missing as storm lashes Philippines

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    MANILA, Philippines — Flash floods and landslides set off by torrential rains left at least 50 people dead, including in a hard-hit southern Philippine province, where as many as 60 villagers are feared missing and buried in a huge mudslide laden with rocks, trees and debris, officials said Saturday.

    At least 42 people were swept away by rampaging floodwaters and drowned or were hit by debris-filled mudslides in three towns in Maguindanao province from Thursday night to early Friday, said Naguib Sinarimbo, the interior minister for a five-province Muslim autonomous region governed by former separatist guerrillas.

    Eight other people died elsewhere in the country from the onslaught of Tropical Storm Nalgae, which slammed into the eastern province of Camarines Sur early Saturday, the government’s disaster response agency said.

    But the worst storm impact so far was a mudslide that buried dozens of houses with as many as 60 people in the tribal village of Kusiong in Maguindanao’s Datu Odin Sinsuat town, Sinarimbo told The Associated Press by telephone, citing accounts from Kusiong villagers who survived the flash flood and mudslide.

    Army Lt. Col. Dennis Almorato, who went to the mudslide-hit community Saturday, said the muddy deluge buried about 60 rural houses in about 5 hectares (12 acres) section of the community. He gave no estimate of how many villagers may have been buried in the mudslide, which he described as “overwhelming.”

    At least 13 bodies, mostly of children, were dug up Friday and Saturday by rescuers in Kusiong, Sinarimbo said.

    “That community will be our ground zero today,” he said, adding that heavy equipment and more rescue workers had been deployed to intensify the search and rescue work.

    “It was hit by torrents of rainwater with mud, rocks and trees that washed out houses,” Sinarimbo said.

    The coastal village, which lies at the foot of a mountain, is accessible by road, allowing more rescuers to be deployed Saturday to deal with one of the worst weather-related disasters to hit the country’s south in decades, he said.

    Citing reports from mayors, governors and disaster-response officials, Sinarimbo said 27 died mostly by drowning and landslides in Datu Odin Sinsuat town, 10 in Datu Blah Sinsuat town and five in Upi town, all in Maguindanao.

    An official death count of 67 in Maguindanao on Friday night was recalled by authorities after discovering some double-counting of casualties.

    The unusually heavy rains flooded several towns in Maguindanao and outlying provinces in a mountainous region with marshy plains, which become like a catch basin in a downpour. Floodwaters rapidly rose in many low-lying villages, forcing some residents to climb onto their roofs, where they were rescued by army troops, police and volunteers, Sinarimbo said.

    The coast guard issued pictures of its rescuers wading in chest-high, brownish floodwaters to rescue the elderly and children in Maguindanao. Many of the swamped areas had not been flooded for years, including Cotabato city where Sinarimbo said his house was inundated.

    The stormy weather in a large swath of the country prompted the coast guard to prohibit sea travel in dangerously rough seas as millions of Filipinos planned to travel over a long weekend for visits to relatives’ tombs and for family reunions on All Saints’ Day in the largely Roman Catholic nation. Several domestic flights have also been canceled, stranding thousands of passengers.

    The wide rain bands of Nalgae, the 16th storm to hit the Philippine archipelago this year, enabled it to dump rain in the country’s south even though the storm was blowing farther north, government forecaster Sam Duran said.

    The storm was battering Laguna province Saturday night with sustained winds of 95 kilometers (59 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 160 kph (99 mph) and moving northwestward — just south of the densely populated capital Manila, which had been forecast for a direct hit until the storm turned.

    More than 158,000 people in several provinces were protectively evacuated away from the path of the storm, officials said.

    About 20 typhoons and storms batter the Philippine archipelago each year. It is located on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a region along most of the Pacific Ocean rim where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur, making the nation one of the world’s most disaster-prone.

    ———

    Associated Press journalists Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila contributed to this report.

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  • US storm survivors: We need faster money, less red tape

    US storm survivors: We need faster money, less red tape

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    MIDDLETOWN, N.J. — Survivors of storms that pounded several U.S. states say the nation’s disaster aid system is broken and want reforms to get money into victims’ hands faster, with less red tape.

    On the 10th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy’s landfall at the Jersey Shore, devastating communities throughout the northeast, survivors will gather Saturday with others who went through hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and Ida along with victim advocacy groups from New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Louisiana and Puerto Rico.

    Robert Lukasiewicz said Sandy sounded like “a hundred freight trains” as it roared past his Atlantic City, New Jersey home on Oct. 29, 2012.

    Contractor fraud set his recovery efforts back and work by a second contractor stalled because of a lack of funds, Lukasiewicz said. After waiting two years for a government aid program, he said he finally found out he needed to have flood insurance first — the price of which had by then soared to unaffordable levels.

    “If all these things had been steps instead of missteps, I could have been home years ago,” he said. “You’ve got different systems that are all butting heads and blaming the other side, when the homeowners and families that all of this was designed for are suffering.”

    The survivors and their advocates listed five reforms they say are needed to help future storm victims avoid the type of delays, runarounds and financial desperation they experienced: getting money into people’s hands more quickly; ensuring that disaster recovery systems are applied equitably; making flood insurance work for storm victims instead of against them; including future storm resiliency into disaster recovery efforts; and ensuring that disaster recovery is systematic, not piecemeal.

    Specific recommendations call for a single point of application for the numerous local, state and federal assistance programs; imposing a smaller cap on annual flood insurance premium rate increases; giving storm victims direct payments and health insurance for a period after the storm; restructuring loan repayment or aid overpayment “clawbacks” to take into account a storm survivor’s ability to pay; and paying 100% of mitigation costs upfront for low-income storm victims instead of reimbursing them after they pay for the work.

    Michael Moriarty, director of the mitigation division of the Federal Emergency Management Agency region that includes New Jersey, said the agency is constantly trying to become more responsive to storm victims.

    “That’s been the Holy Grail, to get aid to people while their house was flooded,” he said. “That’s taxpayer money, so we have to be cautious, not just throwing it away, making sure it gets to the right place and is properly used. We’re trying to get to a mechanism that allows for quicker relief.”

    He said the idea for a single application point for storm aid is good, but cautioned that federal privacy laws restrict information sharing with state and local governments without first getting signed releases, which can take weeks.

    And a post-Ida aid program designed to be fast-tracked so applicants could learn within two weeks whether they had been approved took eight months to be reviewed by federal budget monitors, Moritarty said.

    “It was within the first year but not within the goal of the first month,” he said. “I think that will get better and better.”

    ———

    Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC.

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  • Crisis-stricken Cuba torn between ally Russia, neighbor U.S.

    Crisis-stricken Cuba torn between ally Russia, neighbor U.S.

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    HAVANA — When Hurricane Ian tore through western Cuba in late September, causing an island-wide blackout, it left the government grappling with a deepening energy crisis and simmering discontent among Cubans.

    It also once again thrust the Caribbean island into the middle of an escalating tug-of-war between its seaside neighbor, the United States, and ally, Russia.

    At a time when Cuba is urging the Biden administration to ease U.S. sanctions that it says stifle hurricane recovery efforts, Russian oil has flooded into the island, providing relief to debilitating blackouts.

    Russia has shipped an estimated $352 million in oil to Cuba since the start of the Ukraine war, the biggest inflow from Russia this century and enough to cover about half the shortfall in the island’s supplies, according to independent estimates. The sales also potentially alleviated the weight of international sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

    In an increasingly complex geopolitical situation, the island nation has been left with its hands tied.

    “(It leaves them) between a rock and a hard place,” said Richard LeoGrande, a professor at American University who has tracked Cuba for years. “Cuba can’t afford to alienate either side in what is shaping up to be a new Cold War.”

    But this time, 60 years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cuba’s tough spot lies not in nuclear weapons, but rather its deepening energy crisis.

    Cuba has depended on foreign oil as its primary energy source for decades.

    Until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Soviets sold Cuba oil well below market price. Later, Cuba hatched a similar deal with socialist ally Venezuela at the height of its oil boom, sending Cuban medics in exchange for discounted petroleum.

    Since Venezuela has fallen into its own crisis, though, Cuba has been left short on both oil and a way to pay for it.

    Despite speculation that Venezuela may be fronting part of the costs, Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Cossío told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that “Cuba, of course, pays for the petroleum.”

    “Cuba has to buy petroleum for the well-being of the economy, and it’s willing to buy it from whoever sells it to us,” Cossío said.

    Meanwhile, key power plants slowly decayed over years of deferred maintenance. The Cuban government struggled to bolster its own energy sector and harness the island’s potential for solar and wind energy.

    The lack of investment is something the Caribbean nation blames on American sanctions meant to cripple the nation’s economy.

    “The blockade deprives Cuba of indispensable financial resources,” Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodríguez said at a recent news conference. “The national electric energy system is passing through an extremely grave situation that’s the result of these limitations.”

    The American embargo stretches back to the Cold War, though Cuba had a brief respite during the Obama administration. Restrictions came back into full force under the Trump administration, exacerbating economic turmoil caused by COVID-19.

    While President Joe Biden has eased certain sanctions, many of the measures have stayed in place. Rodríguez says that they have cost Cuba $3 billion in seven months.

    American officials and critics blame Cuba’s economic woes on mismanagement and failures to bolster its private sector.

    Preexisting economic turmoil and blackouts came to a head this fall when Cuba’s power grid took a double hit.

    In August, a crucial oil storage facility east of Havana caught fire, and in late September, Hurricane Ian tore through western Cuba, throwing the entire island into a blackout.

    The Category 3 hurricane left three dead, at least 14,000 homes destroyed and the energy system with long-term damage.

    Sporadic hours-long blackouts have fueled discontent, sparking small protests across the island, the first since larger protests in 2021. Many demonstrators last year were detained and issued harsh sentences.

    Meanwhile, the island is facing its biggest migratory exodus in decades.

    Cuba has found some respite in oil shipped in from Russia, which has been looking for new markets as international sanctions imposed for its invasion of Ukraine have cut it off from many other customers.

    Increased sales to China, India and even Cuba have helped Russia ease the economic brunt of sanctions. It’s likely also helped Cuba stay afloat, explained Jorge Piñon, senior research fellow at the University of Texas at Austin’s Energy Center, which tracks the shipments.

    “We know that Russian storage tanks are full. … They need to move that stuff,” Piñon said. “So good news for Cuba, and good news for Russia that Cuba is in that situation.”

    Russia has sent at least eight shipments totaling 4.3 million barrels of oil, mainly crude, to Cuba since the beginning of the Ukraine war, according to Piñon’s center. And Piñon noted two more shipments are on their way.

    Since the turn of the century, Russia had sent only two shipments to Cuba: one in 2017 worth $35.3 million and another in 2018 worth $55.8 million, according to U.N. Comtrade data.

    Russia has offered sharp discounts to other nations, though it’s unclear how much Cubans are paying or how they are doing so in the midst of their economic crisis.

    Cuba has also contracted at least four floating power plants from a Turkish company. They can be plugged into a power grid for an extra boost of energy. That helped ease the worst of the blackouts, but LeoGrande noted the ships were a patchwork investment, likely expensive, and not a long-term solution.

    At the same time, Cuba is among just a handful of countries in the United Nations to avoid condemning Russia for annexation of four regions of Ukraine. Rather, the Caribbean nation abstained from voting.

    “They need to maintain a good relationship with Russia,” said LeoGrande. “It’s just too important and a lifeline for them to put it at risk.”

    But Cuba’s hesitancy to denounce Russia on a global stage could complicate the slow thawing of its icy relationship with the U.S.

    While the Biden administration has not followed through on campaign promises to reverse Trump-era restrictions, both the August fire and the hurricane have opened up a conversation between the two governments.

    The Biden administration announced this month it would provide $2 million in hurricane relief to Cuba, following a Cuban appeal for assistance — though the administration made clear that the resources would be distributed through independent aid organizations instead of the Cuban government.

    In August, the American government also provided 43 fire suits to Cuba following the blaze in the oil storage facility.

    Rodríguez, Cuba’s foreign affairs minister, thanked the U.S. for the October offer over Twitter, saying it “will add up to our recovery efforts in support of the victims” of the hurricane.

    He was quick to add, however, that sanctions have hampered recovery efforts, calling them “a constant hurricane.”

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  • Ian’s damage to Florida agriculture as high as $1.8 billion

    Ian’s damage to Florida agriculture as high as $1.8 billion

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    ORLANDO, Fla. — Hurricane Ian caused as much as $1.8 billion in damages to Florida agriculture last month, state agriculture officials said.

    The Category 4 storm caused between $1.1 billion and $1.8 billion in losses to the state’s crops and agriculture infrastructure when it tore through the peninsula after landing in southwest Florida, according to a preliminary estimate released Monday by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

    The agency’s estimate was in the same range as a University of Florida preliminary estimate released last week that put Florida’s agriculture loss as high as $1.5 billion.

    Crop damage ranged from $686 million to $1.2 billion. The biggest losses came from citrus which had damages between $416 million and $675 million, the Department of Agriculture report said. The hurricane hit almost at the start of the citrus growing season in Florida, which produces about 60% of all the citrus consumed in the U.S.

    Not only did citrus growers lose fruit that was blown off trees, but they now face the prospect of damaged trees from flooding. The loss could amount to as much as 11% of citrus trees, the report said. Even before the hurricane, Florida’s orange production was predicted to be down by almost a third this season because of the deadly citrus greening disease.

    When it comes to non-citrus fruits and vegetables, Florida lost an estimated $153.7 million to $230.5 million, or around 10% to 15% of crops, just as the planting season was getting into full gear. Many fields lost plastic and drip-tape irrigation and other infrastructure, the report said.

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  • Major Hurricane Roslyn heads for hit on Mexico’s coast

    Major Hurricane Roslyn heads for hit on Mexico’s coast

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    MEXICO CITY — Hurricane Roslyn grew to Category 4 force on Saturday as it headed for a collision with Mexico’s Pacific coast, likely north of the resort of Puerto Vallarta.

    The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Roslyn’s maximum sustained winds stood at 130 mph (215 kph) early Saturday evening.

    The storm was centered about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southwest of Cabo Corrientes — the point of land jutting into the Pacific south of Puerto Vallarta — and moving north at 10 mph (17 kph).

    The forecast called for Roslyn to begin shifting to a northeast movement, putting it on path that could take it close to Cabo Corrientes and the Puerto Vallarta region late Saturday before making landfall in Nayarit state early Sunday.

    Hurricane Orlene made landfall Oct. 3 a little farther north in roughly the same region, about 45 miles (75 kilometers) southeast of the resort of Mazatlan.

    Hurricane-force winds extended out 30 miles (45 kilometers) from Roslyn’s core, while tropical storm-force winds extended out to 80 miles (130 kilometers), the U.S. hurricane center said.

    Mexico issued a hurricane warning covering a stretch of coast from Playa Perula south of Cabo Corrientes north to El Roblito and for the Islas Marias.

    Seemingly oblivious to the danger just hours away, tourists ate at beachside eateries around Puerto Vallarta and smaller resorts farther north on the Nayarit coast, where Roslyn was expected to hit.

    “We’re fine. Everything is calm, it’s all normal,” said Jaime Cantón, a receptionist at the Casa Maria hotel in Puerto Vallarta. He said that if winds picked up, the hotel would gather up outside furniture “so nothing will go flying.”

    While skies began to cloud up, waves remained normal, and few people appeared to be rushing to take precautions; swimmers were still in the sea at Puerto Vallarta

    “The place is full of tourists,” said Patricia Morales, a receptionist at the Punta Guayabitas hotel in the laid-back beach town of the same name, farther up the coast.

    Asked what precautions were being taken, Morales said, “They (authorities) haven’t told us anything.”

    The Nayarit state government said the hurricane was expected to make landfall Sunday around the fishing village of San Blas, about 90 miles (150 kilometers) north of Puerto Vallarta.

    The head of the state civil defense office, Pedro Núñez, said, “Right now we are carrying out patrols through the towns, to alert people so that they can keep their possession safe and keep themselves safe in safer areas.”

    In the neighboring state of Jalisco, Gov. Enrique Alfaro wrote that 270 people had been evacuated in a town near the hurricane’s expected path and that five emergency shelters had been set up in Puerto Vallarta.

    Alfaro said on Twitter that any school activities in the region would be cancelled Saturday and he urged people to avoid touristic activities at beaches and in mountainous areas over the weekend.

    The National Water Commission said rains from Roslyn could cause mudslides and flooding. and the U.S. hurricane center warned of dangerous storm surge along the coast, as well as 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters) of rain.

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  • US offers hurricane assistance to Cubans amid blackouts

    US offers hurricane assistance to Cubans amid blackouts

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    MIAMI — The United States said Tuesday it has offered critical emergency humanitarian assistance to the people of Cuba to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian, an unusual but not unprecedented move after years of bilateral tensions.

    The assistance includes $2 million in provisions and supplies that will be delivered through independent non-governmental organizations that have experience and are already working on the island directly with the affected populations, said a senior administration official who asked to remain anonymous following government policies.

    “We are responding to a disaster by working with our international humanitarian assistance partners to deliver critical assistance directly to those most in need,” she said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press before the official announcement. “We stand with the Cuban people and will continue to seek ways to improve their political and economical well-being.”

    The emergency aid will be provided through “trusted international partners,” like the Red Cross, by way of the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID.

    The announcement comes after Ian hit the western part of the island in late September, causing extensive damage to its power grid. The hurricane left large swathes of Cuba with blackouts, fueling discontent on the Caribbean island, especially in rural areas where the blackouts are the worst.

    Cuba already faced a deep energy crisis and economic turmoil before Ian, especially after a fire in August devastated an oil deposit 60 miles (97 kilometers) from Havana that was a key source of energy.

    The protests sparked by the blackouts are the biggest since mass demonstrations in 2021 triggered by similar problems. Detentions of protesters by Cuban authorities have repeatedly generated human rights complaints from international observers, including the U.S.

    While the two countries have long had a tense relationship, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez expressed his gratitude for the offer from the Biden administration immediately after the announcement and confirmed that it will come through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

    Rodríguez said on his Twitter account that the aid will contribute to recovery efforts and support those affected by Hurricane Ian.

    After the storm, U.S. officials spoke with the island’s authorities to find out what their needs were and how they could help, the official said in the interview with AP. The assistance, however, will not go to the Cuban government, but rather to the population directly, she said. She said through the conversations the administration learned that the greatest needs are in shelter restoration and food.

    On some occasions, the Cuban authorities have accused the United States of approving aid for NGOs that are a cover for Cuban dissidents in Florida, whom they allege have appropriated the money.

    This is not the first time that the U.S. government has provided humanitarian assistance to Cuba in the wake of natural disasters. It did it in 2008, in the wake of Hurricane Gustav; and from 2004 to 2006, in the wake of Hurricanes Charley, Dennis and Wilma.

    The current move represents a small step in thawing icy relations between the two nations.

    For more than six decades, the United States has imposed various levels of embargo on Cuba. During the Obama administration, such restrictions were eased but came back into full force under the Trump administration. While President Joe Biden has made efforts to ease a few of the measures – like travel and remittances to bring families closer – he’s left many Trump-era restrictions in place, which have significantly affected the Cuban economy. The administration also announced it would resume visa services after previously closing the embassy following a series of health incidents.

    The full embargo can only be lifted with an authorization from the U.S. Congress, and the official said the aid will be consistent with the U.S. laws and regulations.

    The official said the U.S will continued its demands for the release of political prisoners and respect for human rights on the island.

    ———-

    AP reporters Megan Janetsky and Andrea Rodríguez contributed from Havana.

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  • 3 weeks after Ian’s landfall, students returning to school

    3 weeks after Ian’s landfall, students returning to school

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    FILE – Water floods a damaged trailer park in Fort Myers, Fla., on Oct. 1, 2022, after Hurricane Ian passed by the area. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022 announced an executive order expanding voting access for the midterm elections in three counties where Hurricane Ian destroyed polling places and displaced thousands of people. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

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  • Lessons from Hurricane Michael being applied to Ian recovery

    Lessons from Hurricane Michael being applied to Ian recovery

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    FORT MYERS, Fla. — Four years before Category 4 Ian wiped out parts of southwest Florida, the state’s Panhandle had its own encounter with an even stronger hurricane, Michael. The Category 5 storm all but destroyed one town, fractured thousands of homes and businesses and did some $25 billion in damage.

    With damage from Ian estimated at several times that and the Fort Myers area beginning a cleanup that will be even larger than after Michael, the two areas are collaborating on a way forward as south Florida residents wonder what their area will look like in a few years.

    Mayor Greg Brudnicki and other leaders from a rebuilt Panama City traveled to the southwestern coast this week at the request of Gov. Ron DeSantis to help officials plan a way forward. Keeping crews and trucks in the area to remove mountains of debris is job No. 1 because all other progress hinges on that, Brudnicki said, and that can mean obtaining loans as a bridge until federal reimbursement money shows up.

    “You can’t fix anything until you get it cleaned up,” Brudnicki said.

    Tiny Mexico Beach, which was nearly leveled by Michael in 2018, still has fewer structures and people than it did before the storm. The town’s mayor, Al Cathey, said one of the biggest challenges recovering from a natural disaster is fundamental: looking ahead, not back.

    With little left in town after Michael, Cathey said, residents gathered daily at a portable kitchen to map out the way forward after the hurricane, and there was an unwritten rule.

    “When we had our afternoon meetings at the food truck, all we talked about is, ‘What are we going to do tomorrow?’ — not what didn’t get done four days ago,” Cathey said.

    Michael was blamed for more than 30 deaths. With more than 100 fatalities, Ian was the third-deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland this century behind Hurricane Katrina, which left about 1,400 people dead, and Hurricane Sandy, which killed 233 despite weakening to a tropical storm just before landfall.

    Recovery will be more complicated in southwest Florida than it was in the Panhandle because of population, Cathey said. Bay County, which includes Panama City and Mexico Beach, has only 180,000 residents, while Lee County, where the Fort Myers area is located, is home to almost 790,000 people, many of whom are retirees.

    Simply removing the boats that were thrown onto land around Lee County could take months, and there are the remains of homes and businesses scattered by 155 mph (250 kph) winds or flooded by seawater that surged miles inland along creeks and canals.

    One of the damaged vessels and waterlogged homes belongs to Mike Ford, who is braced for a prolonged recovery that could change the character of the area.

    The flooded-out mobile home park where Ford lives — one of hundreds of such communities in the region — would be better off as an RV park where people can come and go than as a permanent neighborhood, he said. Residents might be ripe for a buyout or conversion after Ian, particularly since he and others had to repair damage after Hurricane Irma in 2017.

    “I’ve got enough money to rebuild, but I can’t see it because what I’ve (already) done is rebuild, and now this happened,” said Ford, who lost a valuable collection of guitars and Beatles records to Ian. “It kind of takes the wind out of you.”

    A neighbor of Ford’s, Chuck Wagner, said some people already are getting frustrated after Ian. Many southwest Florida residents are retirees who only live in the area half the year, spending the hot summers in the north, and they’re hearing that aid might not be available to part-time residents.

    “Everything is up in the air,” he said. “It might take years. Who knows?”

    In Mexico Beach, Tom Wood, 82, is proof that progress will happen — slowly and painfully.

    His beachfront business, the Driftwood Inn, was blown apart and filled with ocean water when Michael made landfall with sustained winds of 160 mph (258 kph) on Oct. 10, 2018. Initially, he said, the only logical step seemed to be giving up.

    But the storm passed and the Gulf still beckoned, Wood said, so he decided to rebuild. The new Driftwood Inn reopened in June with 24 rooms at its original location after a $13 million outlay and a lot headaches from insurance, government regulations and contractors.

    Mexico Beach still desperately needs a grocery store to avoid the more than 10-mile (16-kilometer) drive to the nearest one, he said, and a pharmacy and more restaurants would be good. But looking back, Wood said, he believes he made the right decision to rebuild and hopes people in Fort Myers Beach do the same.

    “I am so glad that we did it, not only us but for the town,” he said. “It just makes the town better, I think.”

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  • After Hurricane Ian, Florida citrus and agriculture struggle

    After Hurricane Ian, Florida citrus and agriculture struggle

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    ZOLFO SPRINGS, Fla. — The thousands of oranges scattered on the ground by Hurricane Ian’s fierce winds like so many green and yellow marbles are only the start of the disaster for citrus grower Roy Petteway.

    The fruit strewn about his 100-acre (40-hectare) grove in central Florida since the storm swept through will mostly go to waste. But what are even worse are the flood and rain waters that weakened the orange trees in ways that are difficult to see right away.

    “For the next six months we’ll be evaluating the damage,” Petteway said in an interview at his farm, where he estimates about a 40% crop loss. “You’re going to have a lot of damage that will rear its head.”

    Citrus is big business in Florida, with more than 375,000 acres (152,000 hectares) in the state devoted to oranges, grapefruit, tangerines and the like for an industry valued at more than $6 billion annually. Hurricane Ian hit the citrus groves hard, as well as the state’s large cattle industry, dairy operations, vegetables like tomatoes and peppers, and even hundreds of thousands of bees essential to many growers.

    “This year will be tough, no one is disputing that, but I believe in the tenacity and passion of our citrus industry professionals to come back stronger than ever,” said Nikki Fried, commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

    The orange forecast for 2022-2023, released Wednesday, puts production at about 28 million boxes, or 1.26 million tons, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. That’s 32% below the year before and does not account for damage from the hurricane, which will surely worsen those numbers.

    Most Florida oranges are used to make juice, and this season’s drastically lower harvest, combined with the still-unquantified slam from Ian, will press prices upward and force producers to rely even more heavily on California and imported oranges from Latin America.

    “This is a gut punch. There’s no doubt about it,” said Matt Joyner, CEO of the Florida Citrus Mutual trade association. “You’ve really got about 72 hours to get the water off these trees before you start sustaining significant damage if not mortality. Trees need water to grow. They don’t need to be standing in water.”

    U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who appeared at a Florida Citrus Mutual event this week in Zolfo Springs, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of Tampa, said about $3 billion in federal funding is needed to cover costs from loss of crops and trees. And, Rubio told about 500 people at the gathering, it’s crucial not to let the storm make agricultural land disappear.

    “When you lose land, and what happens is people can’t afford to keep doing this anymore, and that land is taken. It’s gone,” the Republican senator said. “I’ve never seen a mall turned back into agricultural land.”

    Then there are the bees.

    The University of Florida estimates that about 380,000 known bee colonies were in the path of Hurricane Ian as it bisected the state. The storm not only damaged the beehives themselves, but also blew off blossoms, leading some bees to raid other colonies for the honey they need to eat.

    “Masses of honeybee colonies submerged in water are in distress,” the Florida Farm Bureau said in a statement. “Bee pollination is critical to the livelihood of our state’s plants and crops, and is just one example of the long-term effects of this deadly storm.”

    More than 100 people died in Florida from the storm, about half of those in hardest-hit Lee County, where the powerful Category 4 hurricane came ashore with 155 mph (259 kph) winds on Sept 28.

    Hardee County, home to Petteway’s citrus and cattle operation, recorded four of those storm-related deaths. Adding to that tragedy, the long-term effects on the farm industry will add broad impacts on the community.

    “If you eat, you’re part of agriculture,” Petteway, a fifth-generation Floridian, said during the tour of his groves. “We were anticipating a very good crop this year. Sadly, there’s nothing we can do about it. It’s just a devastating thing.”

    As Petteway drove around on a golf cart, in a neighboring pasture he spotted a brand-new donkey foal he hadn’t noticed before the hurricane. Coincidentally, not long after the storm passed, his wife gave birth to a daughter, now just over week old.

    The people in these rural parts of Florida, he said, will recover as they always have.

    “This was going to be the first good year in a while,” he said. “We’re a resilient bunch. This is just another hurdle.”

    ———

    For more coverage of Hurricane Ian, go to: https://apnews.com/hub/hurricanes

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  • After Hurricane Ian, Florida citrus and agriculture struggle

    After Hurricane Ian, Florida citrus and agriculture struggle

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    ZOLFO SPRINGS, Fla. — The thousands of oranges scattered on the ground by Hurricane Ian’s fierce winds like so many green and yellow marbles are only the start of the disaster for citrus grower Roy Petteway.

    The fruit strewn about his 100-acre (40-hectare) grove in central Florida since the storm swept through will mostly go to waste. But what are even worse are the flood and rain waters that weakened the orange trees in ways that are difficult to see right away.

    “For the next six months we’ll be evaluating the damage,” Petteway said in an interview at his farm, where he estimates about a 40% crop loss. “You’re going to have a lot of damage that will rear its head.”

    Citrus is big business in Florida, with more than 375,000 acres (152,000 hectares) in the state devoted to oranges, grapefruit, tangerines and the like for an industry valued at more than $6 billion annually. Hurricane Ian hit the citrus groves hard, as well as the state’s large cattle industry, dairy operations, vegetables like tomatoes and peppers, and even hundreds of thousands of bees essential to many growers.

    “This year will be tough, no one is disputing that, but I believe in the tenacity and passion of our citrus industry professionals to come back stronger than ever,” said Nikki Fried, commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

    The orange forecast for 2022-2023, released Wednesday, puts production at about 28 million boxes, or 1.26 million tons, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. That’s 32% below the year before and does not account for damage from the hurricane, which will surely worsen those numbers.

    Most Florida oranges are used to make juice, and this season’s drastically lower harvest, combined with the still-unquantified slam from Ian, will press prices upward and force producers to rely even more heavily on California and imported oranges from Latin America.

    “This is a gut punch. There’s no doubt about it,” said Matt Joyner, CEO of the Florida Citrus Mutual trade association. “You’ve really got about 72 hours to get the water off these trees before you start sustaining significant damage if not mortality. Trees need water to grow. They don’t need to be standing in water.”

    U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who appeared at a Florida Citrus Mutual event this week in Zolfo Springs, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of Tampa, said about $3 billion in federal funding is needed to cover costs from loss of crops and trees. And, Rubio told about 500 people at the gathering, it’s crucial not to let the storm make agricultural land disappear.

    “When you lose land, and what happens is people can’t afford to keep doing this anymore, and that land is taken. It’s gone,” the Republican senator said. “I’ve never seen a mall turned back into agricultural land.”

    Then there are the bees.

    The University of Florida estimates that about 380,000 known bee colonies were in the path of Hurricane Ian as it bisected the state. The storm not only damaged the beehives themselves, but also blew off blossoms, leading some bees to raid other colonies for the honey they need to eat.

    “Masses of honeybee colonies submerged in water are in distress,” the Florida Farm Bureau said in a statement. “Bee pollination is critical to the livelihood of our state’s plants and crops, and is just one example of the long-term effects of this deadly storm.”

    More than 100 people died in Florida from the storm, about half of those in hardest-hit Lee County, where the powerful Category 4 hurricane came ashore with 155 mph (259 kph) winds on Sept 28.

    Hardee County, home to Petteway’s citrus and cattle operation, recorded four of those storm-related deaths. Adding to that tragedy, the long-term effects on the farm industry will add broad impacts on the community.

    “If you eat, you’re part of agriculture,” Petteway, a fifth-generation Floridian, said during the tour of his groves. “We were anticipating a very good crop this year. Sadly, there’s nothing we can do about it. It’s just a devastating thing.”

    As Petteway drove around on a golf cart, in a neighboring pasture he spotted a brand-new donkey foal he hadn’t noticed before the hurricane. Coincidentally, not long after the storm passed, his wife gave birth to a daughter, now just over week old.

    The people in these rural parts of Florida, he said, will recover as they always have.

    “This was going to be the first good year in a while,” he said. “We’re a resilient bunch. This is just another hurdle.”

    ———

    For more coverage of Hurricane Ian, go to: https://apnews.com/hub/hurricanes

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  • Tropical Storm Karl weakens into depression off south Mexico

    Tropical Storm Karl weakens into depression off south Mexico

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    Tropical Storm Karl has weakened into a tropical depression while nearing Mexico’s southern Gulf shore, though forecasters say its heavy rain could still cause problems on the easily flooded stretch of coast

    MEXICO CITY — Tropical Storm Karl weakened into a tropical depression while nearing Mexico’s southern Gulf shore, though forecasters said its heavy rain could still cause problems on the easily flooded stretch of coast.

    The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm would move near land during Saturday and likely dissipate by early Sunday. It meandered slowly Friday, angling away from what had been an expected landfall in the evening.

    Karl had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph) late Friday. It was centered about 75 miles (125 kilometers) west-northwest of Ciudad del Carmen and moving south at 3 mph (6 kph).

    The coastal cities of Coatzacoalcos and Paraiso lie near the storm’s expected path.

    “The rains forecast could cause mudslides, rising levels in rivers and streams, and flooding in low-lying areas,” Mexico’s National Water Commission said in a statement.

    The U.S. hurricane center said Karl could drop 2 to 5 inches (5 to 13 centimeters) of rain across portions of Veracruz and Tabasco states as well as northern Chiapas and Oaxaca states through Sunday morning. It said as much as 8 inches (20 centimeters) could fall in isolated spots.

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  • Puerto Rico to probe power bill complaints following outage

    Puerto Rico to probe power bill complaints following outage

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    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s Energy Bureau announced Thursday that it will investigate how a private company has handled complaints about electric bills after Hurricane Fiona knocked power out to the entire island.

    The announcement comes as a growing number of customers in the U.S. territory complain about being charged for electricity when they didn’t have power and receiving higher than normal power bills.

    The Independent Office of Consumer Protection urged the bureau last week to investigate difficulties in filing such complaints.

    The bureau called on Luma Energy to immediately stop any practice that prevents consumers from objecting to bills via telephone or online, and to extend the deadline for clients to file their complaints, among other things.

    It also demanded that Luma Energy submit evidence within 10 days that it was complying with the bureau’s orders.

    Luma said in a statement that during Hurricane Fiona and the state of emergency — as a way to prioritize critical calls — it implemented a temporary measure to direct billing inquiries only through its app, web portal, mail or in-person visits.

    “As soon as the emergency passed, we resumed our normal operations, and customers have been able to discuss their bills by phone,” the company said.

    Of Luma’s 1.47 million clients, more than 8,800 remain without power almost a month after Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico’s southwest region as a Category 1 storm.

    Luma officials have noted that restoring power in part has been complicated by the crumbling state of Puerto Rico’s grid, which was razed by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Reconstruction of the grid has only recently started.

    Luma, which took over the transmission and distribution of power in Puerto Rico more than a year ago, has faced growing criticism about lengthy outages that occurred frequently even before Fiona hit.

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  • Tropical Storm Karl heads back at Mexico’s south Gulf coast

    Tropical Storm Karl heads back at Mexico’s south Gulf coast

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    MEXICO CITY — Tropical Storm Karl turned to the south Thursday and headed for Mexico’s Gulf coast, though forecasters said it was unlikely to reach hurricane force.

    The storm had been heading slowly to the north before weather conditions halted it and turned it around. It was expected to weaken somewhat before hitting the coast of Veracruz or Tabasco states by late Friday or early Saturday.

    The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Karl had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) late Thursday afternoon. It was centered about 195 miles (315 kilometers) north-northeast of the oil city of Coatzacoalcos and headed south-southeast at 7 mph (11 kph).

    A tropical storm warning was in effect from the town of Alvarado to Ciudad del Carmen.

    Tropical storm-force winds of at least 39 mph (63 kph) extended outward as far as 80 miles (130 kilometers) from the center.

    The hurricane center said Karl could drop 3 to 7 inches (8 to 18 centimeters) of rain across portions of Veracruz and Tabasco from Friday into late Saturday. It said as much as 12 inches (30 centimeters) could fall in isolated spots.

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  • Tropical Storm Karl strengthens in Gulf off Mexico’s coast

    Tropical Storm Karl strengthens in Gulf off Mexico’s coast

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    This satellite image taken at 9:30am ET and provided by NOAA shows Tropical Storm Karl in the Gulf of Mexico, on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Karl grew a little stronger off Mexico’s southern Gulf coast on Wednesday and was expected to approach land by the weekend without gaining hurricane strength. (NOAA via AP)

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  • Tropical Storm Karl forms in Gulf off southern Mexico coast

    Tropical Storm Karl forms in Gulf off southern Mexico coast

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    MEXICO CITY — Tropical Storm Karl formed off Mexico’s southern Gulf coast Tuesday and is forecast to meander in the Gulf for a few days without reaching hurricane strength.

    The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Karl had winds of 40 mph (65 kph) Tuesday afternoon. It was centered about 110 miles (180 kms) east-northeast of the port city of Veracruz and moving northwest at 6 mph (9 kph).

    Mexico declared a tropical storm warning from Veracruz northward to Cabo Rojo.

    The storm’s center is expected to move northward before changing course and turning inland sometime later in the week.

    Karl formed one day after former Hurricane Julia dissipated in the Pacific after having directly or indirectly caused the deaths of 28 people in Central America following its landfall on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast.

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  • Florida shrimpers race to get battered fleet back to sea

    Florida shrimpers race to get battered fleet back to sea

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    FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — The seafood industry in southwest Florida is racing against time and the elements to save what’s left of a major shrimping fleet — and a lifestyle — that was battered by Hurricane Ian.

    The storm’s ferocious wind and powerful surge hurled a couple dozen shrimp boats atop wharves and homes along the harbor on Estero Island. Jesse Clapham, who oversees a dozen trawlers for a large seafood company at Fort Myers Beach, is trying to get boats back to sea as quickly as possible — before their engines, winches and pulleys seize up from being out of the water.

    One of two shrimpers that didn’t sink or get tossed onto land went out Sunday, but the victory was small compared with the task ahead.

    “There’s 300 people who work for us and all of them are out of a job right now. I’m sure they’d rather just mow all this stuff down and build a giant condo here, but we’re not going to give up,” said Clapham, who manages the fishing fleet at Erickson and Jensen Seafood, which he said handles $10 million in shrimp annually.

    The company’s fractured wharves, flooded office and processing house are located on Main Street beside another large seafood company, Trico Shrimp Co. There, a crane lifted the outrigger of grounded shrimper Aces & Eights — the first step toward getting it back in the water. Across the yard, the massive Kayden Nicole and Renee Lynn sat side-by-side in the parking lot, stern to bow.

    Shrimping is the largest piece of Florida’s seafood industry, with a value of almost $52 million in 2016, state statistics show. Gulf of Mexico shrimp from Fort Myers has been shipped all over the United States for generations.

    Now, it’s a matter of when the fishing can resume and whether there will still be experienced crews to operate the boats when that happens.

    Deckhand Michele Bryant didn’t just lose a job when the boat where she works was grounded, she lost her home. Shrimping crews are at sea for as long as two months at a time, she said, so members often don’t have homes on land.

    “I’ve got nowhere to stay,” she said. “I’m living in a tent.”

    Richard Brown’s situation is just as precarious. A citizen of Guyana who was working on a boat out of Miami when Ian hit southwest Florida, Brown rode out the storm on one of four boats that were lashed together along a harbor seawall.

    “We tried to fight the storm. The lines were bursting. We kept replacing them but when the wind turned everybody was on land,” he said.

    There’s no way to catch shrimp on a boat surrounded by dirt, so Brown is staying busy scraping barnacles off the hull of the Gulf Star. “It’s like it’s on dry dock,” he said — but he’s no more sure what to do now than at the height of the storm.

    “It was terrifying – the worst experience,” said Brown, who is more than 2,160 miles (3,480 kilometers) from his home in South America. “I was just thinking, ‘You could abandon the ship.’ But where are you going?”

    Seafood fleets along the Gulf Coast are used to getting wiped out by hurricanes. Katrina pummeled the industry from Louisiana to Alabama in 2005, and the seafood business in southern Louisiana is still recovering from Hurricane Ida’s punch last year. But this part of Florida hasn’t seen a storm like Ian in a century, leaving people to wonder what happens next.

    Dale Kalliainen and his brother followed their father into the shrimping business and owns the trawler Night Wind, which landed amid a mobile home park near a bridge. He said high fuel prices and low-cost imported seafood took a bite out the industry long before Ian did its worst.

    “There used to be 300 boats in this harbor and now there’s maybe 50,” he said. “It’s going to be probably years before this business is even close to being back to what it was.”

    Clapham, the 47-year-old fleet manager, has spent his entire life on shrimp boats. The industry already operates on a thin margin and needs help recovering from Ian, he said.

    “These boats go out and catch $60,000, $70,000 worth of shrimp a month, but it costs $30,000 to $50,000 to put fuel on them and groceries and supplies, and then you’ve got to pay the crew. And sometimes these boats’ (catches) don’t even pay for everything,” he said. “We take money from one boat and get another boat going and send ’em back fishing just to keep going.”

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  • Search for victims done, Florida coast aims for Ian recovery

    Search for victims done, Florida coast aims for Ian recovery

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    FORT MYERS, Fla. — An army of 42,000 utility workers has restored electricity to more than 2.5 million businesses and homes in Florida since Hurricane Ian’s onslaught, and Brenda Palmer’s place is among them. By the government’s count, she and her husband Ralph are part of a success story.

    Yet turning on the lights in a wrecked mobile home that’s likely beyond repair and reeks of dried river mud and mold isn’t much solace to people who lost a lifetime of work in a few hours of wind, rain and rising seawater. Sorting through soggy old photos of her kids in the shaded ruins of her carport, Palmer couldn’t help but cry.

    “Everybody says, ’You can’t save everything, mom,’” she said. “You know, it’s my life. It’s MY life. It’s gone.”

    With the major search for victims over and a large swath of Florida’s southwest coast settling in for the long slog of recovering from its first direct hit from a major hurricane in a century, residents are bracing for what will be months, if not years, of work. Mourning lost heirlooms will be hard; so will fights with insurance companies and decisions about what to do next.

    Around the corner from the Palmers in Coach Light Manor, a retirement community of 179 mobile homes that was flooded by two creeks and a canal, a sad realization hit Susan Colby sometime between the first time she saw her soggy home after Ian and Sunday, when she was picking through its remains.

    “I’m 86 years old and I’m homeless,” she said. “It’s just crazy. I mean, never in my life did I dream that I wouldn’t have a home. But it’s gone.”

    Officials have blamed more than 100 deaths, most of them in southwest Florida, on Ian, a powerful Category 4 storm with 155 mph (249 kph) winds. It was the third-deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland this century behind Hurricane Katrina, which left about 1,400 people dead, and Hurricane Sandy, which killed 233 despite weakening to a tropical storm just before landfall.

    While Gov. Ron DeSantis has heaped lavish praise on his administration for the early phases of the recovery, including getting running water and lights back on and erecting a temporary bridge to Pine Island, much more remains to be done. There are still mountains of debris to remove; it’s hard to find a road that isn’t lined with waterlogged carpet, ruined furniture, moldy mattresses and pieces of homes.

    On the road to Estero Island, scene of the worst damage to Fort Myers Beach, workers are using heavy machines with huge grapples to snatch debris out of swampy areas and deposit it into trucks. Boats of all sizes, from dinghies to huge shrimpers and charter fishing vessels, block roads and sit atop buildings.

    DeSantis said at least some of the roadmap for the coming months in southwest Florida may come from the Florida Panhandle, where Category 5 Hurricane Michael wiped out Mexico Beach and much of Panama City in 2018. Panama City leaders will be brought in to offer advice on the cleanup, DeSantis told a weekend news conference.

    “They’re going to come down on the ground, they’re going to inspect, and then they’ve going to offer some advice to the local officials here in Lee County, Fort Myers Beach and other places,” DeSantis said. “You can do what you want, you don’t have to accept their advice. But I tell you that was a major, major effort.”

    In a region full of retirees, many of whom moved South to get away from the chill of Northern winters, Luther Marth worries that it might be more difficult for some to recover from the psychological effects of Ian than the physical destruction. Two men in their 70s already have taken their own lives after seeing the destruction, officials said.

    Fort Myers was sideswiped by Hurricane Irma in 2017, but Marth said that storm was nothing like Ian, and the emotional toll will be greater, especially for older folks.

    “I’m 88 years old. People my age struggle,” said Marth, who counts himself and his wife Jacqueline among the lucky despite losing a car and thousands of dollars worth of fishing gear, tools and more when their garage filled with more than 5 feet (1.52 meters) of water.

    “If you got wiped out financially you don’t want to start over again, you don’t have the will to start again,” Marth said. “So those are the people my heart breaks for.”

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  • Tropical Storm Julia drenches Central America with rainfall

    Tropical Storm Julia drenches Central America with rainfall

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    SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Tropical Storm Julia drenched Guatemala and El Salvador with torrential rains Monday after it reemerged in the Pacific following a pounding of Nicaragua.

    Police said two people died in the eastern El Salvador town of Guatajiagua after heavy rains caused a wall of their home to collapse. Rivers overflowed their banks and El Salvador declared a state of emergency and opened 70 storm shelters.

    Julia hit Nicaragua’s central Caribbean coast early Sunday as a hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph) and survived the passage over the country’s mountainous terrain, entering the Pacific late in the day as a tropical storm..

    By Monday morning, Julia´s winds were down to 40 mph (65 kph).

    The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Julia was centered about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of San Salvador, El Salvador, and was moving west-northwest at 15 mph (24 kph).

    The center said life-threatening flash floods and mudslides were possible across Central America and southern Mexico through Tuesday, with the storm expected to bring as much as 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain in isolated areas.

    In Guatemala, two people were listed as missing and two were hospitalized, and about 1,300 people had to leave their homes because of flooding and rising streams.

    Julia was expected to weaken further and dissipate later Monday as it passes along the Guatemalan coast.

    Colombia’s national disaster agency reported Sunday that Julia blew the roofs off several houses and knocked over trees as it blasted past San Andres Island east of Nicaragua. There were no immediate reports of fatalities

    In Nicaragua, Vice President Rosario Murillo told TN8 television on Sunday that there had been no initial reports of deaths, but power and communications were cut to some areas. She said that 9,500 people had been evacuated to shelters.

    Local news media showed images of trees toppled across roads and local flooding.

    Heavy rains and evacuations were also reported in Panama, Honduras and Costa Rica, where some highways were closed due to the downpours.

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  • ‘Nothing’s left’: Hurricane Ian leaves emotional toll behind

    ‘Nothing’s left’: Hurricane Ian leaves emotional toll behind

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    FORT MYERS, Fla. — With her home gone and all her belongings trashed by Hurricane Ian, Alice Pujols wept as she picked through soggy clothes, toys and overturned furniture piled head-high outside a stranger’s house, looking to salvage something — anything — for her four children and herself.

    “I’m trying to make it to the next day,” she said. “That’s all I can do. It’s really depressing. It really is.”

    For those who lost everything to a natural disaster and even those spared, the anguish can be crushing to return home to find so much gone. Grief can run the gamut from frequent tears to utter despair. Two men in their 70s even took their own lives after viewing their losses, said the medical examiner in Lee County, where Ian first made landfall in southwestern Florida.

    The emotional toll in the days, weeks and months after a hurricane, flood or wildfire can be crippling. More pressing needs for food, shelter and clothing often take priority to seeking counseling, which is in short supply even in good times.

    “When someone’s in a state of trauma that so many are in, they don’t know where to begin,” said Beth Hatch, CEO of the Collier County, Florida, branch of the National Alliance of Mental Illness. “They need that hand-holding and they need to know that there’s so many people here to help them.”

    Hurricane Ian hammered Florida with such ferocity that it wiped out whole neighborhoods, tossed boats onto highways, swept away beaches and swamped homes in roof-deep waters.

    With sustained winds of 150 mph (240 kph), it was one of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit southwest Florida. It later cut a watery and wind-battered swath across the Florida peninsula before turning out to sea to regain strength and pummel South Carolina.

    It killed more than 100 people, the majority of victims in Florida, making it the third-deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland this century. Even a week after it passed through, officials warned that more victims could yet be found as they continued to inspect the damage. The storm knocked out power to 2.6 million and caused billions of dollars in damage.

    Research has shown that between a third and half of those who survive a disaster develop some type of mental distress, said Jennifer Horney, an epidemiology professor at the University of Delaware who studies natural disaster impacts on public health.

    Post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety rise along with substance abuse. Those with existing mental disorders are at greater risk of having those conditions exacerbated by the trauma.

    A variety of help is available as additional resources are sent to the area.

    The state of Florida was setting up support centers and the federal government has a 24-hour disaster distress helpline to provide counseling and crisis support. Hatch’s organization was going to some homes in hard-hit areas to check on clients with mental illness.

    The vast majority of people, though, were still assessing damage, trying to retrieve and dry out possessions worth keeping and drag what couldn’t be saved to growing trash heaps by the side of the road.

    On Pine Island, just off the Florida mainland where Ian first struck, an emotional Alan Bickford said he was trying to take a longer view because what lay before him was bleak: the floors of his home were coated in stinky muck and his yard was littered with framed photos, furniture and other items he’d hauled outside.

    “It’s like a death of a loved one. The pain just comes and goes,” he said. “There’s times when there are these little glimmers or slivers of hope. And then everything falls apart.”

    Riding out a deadly storm amid screaming winds, pounding waves and rising waters, or escaping as danger closes in is terrifying and traumatic. Living out of a duffel bag or suitcase in an evacuation center is disruptive, stressful and depressing. Returning to a flood-ravaged home that needs to be gutted to prevent mold from taking hold or, worse, reduced to splinters and scrap metal and scattered like confetti is heartbreaking.

    Mao Lin walked an hour Thursday to reach the plot of land where she had lived on Fort Myers Beach, which looked like a blast zone. She was distressed to find it gone.

    “The whole street — nothing’s left,” she said. “We don’t have a home. We don’t have a car. We don’t have anything. We have nothing left.”

    In recent days, the number of calls have doubled at Hatch’s organization as people recognize they cannot rebuild their lives — and overcome trauma — alone.

    “The needs are going to change over time,” Hatch said. “Some people have lost everything, maybe the walls of their home may be still standing, but they’re uninhabitable.”

    Cleaning up the mess of a damaged home or finding a new one in the wake of a catastrophe gives way to the longer term challenges of navigating the maze of bureaucracy for financial assistance, securing permits for rebuilding or fighting insurance companies over reimbursements.

    Horney studied suicide rates in counties that experienced a disaster between 2003-2015. She and her colleagues found suicides increased 23% when comparing the three-year period preceding a disaster to the three years after an event, according to the study published in The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention.

    She said the Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 suicides of men in their 70s was not typical so soon after a catastrophic event.

    “It’s not usually an immediate, post-disaster thing,” Horney said. “It’s really these longer-term mental health problems that have either been exacerbated by or caused by the disaster that then over time tend to lead to more severe outcomes like suicide.”

    In the aftermath of a disaster, communities pull together to recover and rebuild. Rescuers, relief workers and nonprofit organizations provide food, funding and other help, including counseling. But attention eventually fades and the money dries up. Emergency funds for mental health sometimes expire in as soon as two months and last no longer than a year.

    With disasters becoming more frequent and more severe due to climate change, there could be a cumulative effect on mental health, Horney said. She said her study calls for more funding to fix the damage that is felt but can’t be seen.

    Most of the emotional impacts of a disaster are short-lived but they could be worsened if followed by another cataclysmic event.

    “If it was usual that symptoms would resolve in six months to a year, but then there’s another hurricane or another wildfire, then you’re in this cycle of intensifying mental health impacts,” Horney said. “The research is definitely clear that the more disasters you’re exposed to, the stronger the impacts on mental health.”

    Joe Kuczko hunkered down with his parents as their Pine Island mobile home was battered by the storm. Kuczko got a gash in his foot that he stitched himself after a piece of the roof blew off.

    Pieces of mangled metal lay on the ground Thursday along with containers full of possessions and clothes hung to dry as Kuczko, shirtless and with a sunburn on his back, strung up a tarp to keep the rain out of what remained of the home.

    “I lost the first 30 years of my life,” he said. “Every time I hear the wind blow and a piece of aluminum shift, it’s like PTSD.”

    ———

    Melley reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalist Robert Bumsted contributed to this story from Pine Island, Florida.

    ———

    The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available for those in distress by dialing 988 or 1-800-273-8255.

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  • Ian leaves scenes of recovery, despair on Florida coast

    Ian leaves scenes of recovery, despair on Florida coast

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    FORT MYERS, Fla. — Just days after Hurricane Ian struck, a crowd of locals gathered under a huge banyan tree at a motel’s outdoor tiki bar for drink specials and live music. Less than 10 miles away, crews were finishing the search for bodies on a coastal barrier island. Even closer, entire families were trying to get comfortable for the night in a mass shelter housing more than 500 storm victims.

    On a coast where a few miles meant the difference between life and death, relief and ruin, the contrasting scenes of reality less than two weeks since the hurricane‘s onslaught are jarring, and they point to the way disaster can mean so many different things to different people.

    Arlan Fuller has seen the disparity while working in the hurricane zone to serve marginalized communities with Project Hope, a nonprofit that provides medical relief services. A few factors seem to account for the vast differences from one place to the next, he said: People and places closest to the coast usually fared the worst, as did people with lower incomes.

    “There’s an interesting combination of location, the sturdiness of the structure people lived in, and means,” said Fuller.

    On Pine Island, where the state quickly erected a temporary bridge to replace one washed out by the storm, volunteers are handing out water, ice, food and supplies. The island’s Publix grocery store reopened with generator power faster than seemed possible, pleasing island resident Charlotte Smith, who didn’t evacuate.

    “My home is OK. The lower level did flood somewhat. But I’m dry. They have the water back on running. Things are really getting pretty good.” Smith said.

    Life is very different for Shanika Caldwell, 40, who took her nine children to a mass shelter located inside Hertz Arena, a minor league hockey coliseum, after another shelter located at a public high school shut down so classes could get ready to resume. The family was living in a motel before the storm but had to flee after the roof flew off, she said.

    “If they say they are going to start school next week, how am I going to get my kids back and forth from school all the way here?” she said. Nearby, a huge silver statue of an ice hockey player looked out over the arena parking lot.

    As three shrimpers watched a Sunday afternoon NFL game on a television set in the shade of a trawler that was pushed ashore by Ian, Alexa Alvarez wiped away tears as she stood in the rubble of Fort Myers Beach. She has fond memories of childhood trips with her brother and parents, who lived on the island and lost their home to the storm.

    “I had to see it for myself, and just kind of say goodbye,” she said.

    Ian, a strong Category 4 storm with 155 mph (249 kph) winds, was blamed for more than 100 deaths, the overwhelming majority of them in southwest Florida. It was the third-deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland this century behind Hurricane Katrina, which left about 1,400 people dead, and Hurricane Sandy, which had a total death count of 233 despite weakening to a tropical storm just before it made landfall.

    For some, the recovery has been fairly quick. Barber shops, car washes, chain restaurants, a gun range and vape shops — lots of vape shops — already have reopened on U.S. 41, known in southern Florida as the Tamiami Trail. Many traffic lights are operating, yet residents of low-lying homes and mobile home parks just off the highway are still shoveling mud that was left behind by floodwaters.

    In Punta Gorda, near where boutiques and investment firms do business along a tony street lined by palm trees, Judy Jones, 74, is trying to provide for more than 40 residents of the bare-bones homeless shelter she’s operated for more than five decades, Bread of Life Mission Inc.

    “I take care of people that fall through the crack in the system,” she said. “You have people who were on their feet but because of the hurricane, they’re on their knees.”

    Cheryl Wiese isn’t homeless: For 16 years she spent the fall and winter months in her modest mobile home on Oyster Bay Lane, located at Fort Myers Beach, before returning to a place on Lake Erie in Ohio for the summer. But what she found after making the 24-hour drive south following Ian all but ruined her.

    “I don’t want to even live here anymore. There is no Fort Myers Beach. All my neighbors are gone. All my friends are gone,” she said.

    The worst part, she said, might have been driving past the devastation to the public library to begin the process of applying for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A worker told her to be ready for a phone call and visit from a FEMA representative, and not to miss either, Wiese said.

    “If I miss the phone call? Out of luck,” she said. “If I miss him? Out of luck.”

    Danilo Mendoza, a construction worker from the Miami area whose trailer and tools were blown away by Ian, has seen the places where people are going on with life, where the recovery already is underway, but he’s doing his best to stay positive.

    He counts himself fortunate because he has a safe place to stay at the hockey arena, which is located across the street from upscale apartments where people go on morning walks in athletic gear, and the food is abundant.

    “I see the big picture,” he said. “They give you blankets, for God’s sake, brand new ones. They give you all the things you need to survive.”

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