Hurricane Milton leaves behind a shocked Florida

In front of Susan Stepp’s house, a camper van lies on its side. Toppled by surprise by tornadoes in Fort Pierce, a city on the east coast of Florida, even before Hurricane Milton made landfall more than 120 miles away.

“It was just horrible. I’ve heard some pretty terrible things.”says this septuagenarian, looking sorry, referring to the deceased people.

“The tornado lifted our 22-ton camper and threw it across the lawn”explains her husband Bill, 72 years old, “completely stunned” by the power of the waterspout.

Already hit by Hurricane Helene, Florida was swept by Milton from west to east after making landfall Wednesday evening. At least ten people lost their lives.

Yes, yes “worst case scenario” was avoided, according to authorities, a series of tornadoes and unexpected floods surprised residents.

The outer bands of a hurricane “are known as places where tornadoes form”Jana Houser, an academic specializing in this phenomenon, explains to AFP.

Due to climate change, the increasingly warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico have fueled Milton “with more fuel”she adds.

“It looks like a train coming”

Further north, in Cocoa Beach, a tornado blew out the windows of a hair salon and blew the roof off a bank. But no victims to deplore on this narrow strip of coastal land.

Katherine and Larry Hingle say they were sitting outside their apartment watching the river rise Wednesday when the waterspout hit.

“I said: ‘It looks like a train coming’”tells AFP Katherine Hingle, 53, while walking her dog to assess the damage.

Her husband, Larry Hingle, 52, says the wind has changed direction “quickly and violently”. “We had seen warnings on TV but it’s rare to see a tornado in Cocoa Beach. It was pretty crazy”he said.

The noise was “surreal” resumes Katherine Hingle, her husband describing that “cracking metal”.

And then “calm settled for a long time”Katherine Hingle still remembers. Then the hurricane really arrived. “All night long, there were power cuts” and this “constant, screeching wind”adds Larry.

Not far away, an octogenarian who did not wish to give his name examines the damage in the parking lot of a residence. A torn part of the roof caused the windshield of one vehicle to shatter and the roof of another.

“I have seen many storms but this was the worst”confides this resident, who also mentions the sound of a “passing train”.

“Finding yourself with nothing”

On the west coast of Florida, Lidier Rodriguez and Sandra Escalona are exhausted. Thursday morning, they say, water began flooding their apartment in Clearwater. The couple had to take refuge upstairs, from where they observed the emergency services deployed on boats to help other residents evacuate.

“Everything is ruined”notes Lidier Rodriguez, who has lived in Florida for two decades. “But at least we’re alive.” This is all we have left.”.

Dozens of residents emerge from their homes, visibly dazed, carrying a few belongings in bags and their pets in their arms.

No one expected such flooding in a neighborhood that was not part of the mandatory evacuation zone and had previously not been damaged by Hélène.

When Sandra Escalona saw water leaking into her apartment, she thought a neighbor had left a faucet running. Before you worry.

“Everything happened very quickly. The water came suddenly and very hard”she remembers. “We ran to get some papers, the dog and we went out the door. We spent the night in front of the upstairs neighbor’s door”.

Today, she and her husband say they are lost, with, says the latter, “the feeling of having everything and suddenly finding yourself with nothing”. “We don’t know where to go”.