Harris and Trump make a furious final push before U.S. election day
A campaign that has careened through a felony trial, incumbent being pushed off the ticket and assassination attempts comes down to Election Day on Tuesday.
People across Florida were given notice Sunday that Hurricane Milton is intensifying rapidly and will likely be a major hurricane before slamming midweek into the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.
While forecast models vary widely, the most likely path suggests Milton could make landfall Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area and remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida into the Atlantic Ocean. That would largely spare other southeastern states ravaged by Hurricane Helene, which caused catastrophic damage from Florida into the Appalachian mountains and a death toll that rose Sunday to 230 people.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that while it remains to be seen just where Milton will strike, it's clear that Florida is going to be hit hard — “I don't think there's any scenario where we don't have major impacts at this point.”
Hurricane Milton was centered about 815 miles (1,310 kilometres) west-southwest of Tampa, Sunday afternoon, with maximum sustained winds of 80 m.p.h. (130 km/h), the National Hurricane Center said.
“You have time to prepare — all day today, all day Monday, probably all day Tuesday to be sure your hurricane preparedness plan is in place,” the governor said. “If you’re on that west coast of Florida, barrier islands, just assume you’ll be asked to leave.”
With Milton achieving hurricane status, this is is the first time the Atlantic has had three simultaneous hurricanes after September, said Colorado State University hurricane scientist Phil Klotzbach. There have been four simultaneous hurricanes in August and September.
The St. Petersburg-Tampa Bay area is still cleaning up extensive damage from Helene and its powerful storm surge. Twelve people perished as Helene swamped the coast, with the worst damage along the narrow, 20-mile (32-kilometre) string of barrier islands that stretch from St. Petersburg to Clearwater.
DeSantis expanded his state of emergency declaration Sunday to 51 counties, and said Floridians should prepare for more power outages and disruption, making sure they have a week's worth of food and water and are ready to hit the road. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, meanwhile, coordinated with the governor and briefed President Joe Biden Sunday on how it has staged lifesaving resources.
“I highly encourage you to evacuate” if you're in an evacuation zone, said Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. “We are preparing ... for the largest evacuation that we have seen, most likely since 2017, Hurricane Irma. ”
The state has prepared emergency fuel sources and EV charging stations along evacuation routes, and “identified every possible location that can possibly house someone along those routes,” Guthrie said. People who live in homes built after Florida strengthened its codes in 2004, who don't depend on constant electricity and who aren't in evacuation zones, should probably avoid the roads, he said.
All classes and school activities in St. Petersburg's Pinellas County preemptively closed Monday through Wednesday as Milton approached, and the Tampa opened city garages for free so people could park their cars safe from the next floodwaters.
As many as 4,000 National Guard troops are helping state crews to remove debris, DeSantis said, and he directed that Florida crews dispatched to North Carolina in Helene's aftermath return to the state to prepare for Milton.
“All available state assets ... are being marshaled to help remove debris,” DeSantis said. “We're going 24-7 ... it's all hands on deck."
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell defended her agency's response to Hurricane's destruction after Republicans’ false claims, amplified by former President Donald Trump, created a frenzy of misinformation across devastated communities.
“This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people and it’s really a shame we’re putting politics ahead of helping people,” Criswell told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. It's created fear and mistrust among residents against the thousands of FEMA employees and volunteers on the ground across the southeast, she said.
Despite this, Criswell said the agency is already preparing for Milton, well before it's clear exactly where it will move across the Florida peninsula this week. “We’re working with the state there to understand what their requirements are going to be, so we can have those in place before it makes landfall,” she said.
Federal disaster assistance has surpassed US$137 million since Helene struck more than a week ago, one of the largest mobilizations of personnel and resources in recent history, FEMA said Sunday.
Some 1,500 active-duty troops, more than 6,100 National Guardsmen and nearly 7,000 federal workers have been deployed, shipping more than 14.9 million meals, 13.9 million liters of water, 157 generators and 505,000 tarps, along with approving more than US$30 million in housing and other types of assistance for over 27,000 households, according to FEMA, the White House and the Department of Defense.
More than 800 people unable to return home are staying in lodging provided through FEMA, and 22 shelters are still housing nearly 1,000 people as mobile feeding operations continue to help survivors. The response to Helene won't let up during Milton and its aftermath, because FEMA has th capacity to address multiple disasters simultaneously, the agency said.
“My Administration is sparing no resource to support families as they begin their road to rebuilding,” Biden said. “We will continue working hand-in-hand with local and state leaders – regardless of political party and no matter how long it takes.”
The hurricane centre said Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, the Florida Peninsula, the Florida Keys and the northwestern Bahamas should monitor the system’s progress. Heavy rainfall was expected Sunday ahead of the storm itself, and will likely then combine with Milton's rainfall to flood waterways and streets in Florida, where forecasters said up to a foot (30 centimetres) of rain could fall in places through Wednesday night.
Meanwhile in the open Atlantic, Hurricane Kirk diminished to a Category 2 hurricane on Sunday, with top winds of 105 m.p.h. (165 km/h), sending large swells and “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions” to Bermuda and northward along the U.S. and Canadian coasts, the centre said. Hurricane Leslie was also moving over the Atlantic Ocean, well away from land, with top winds of 85 mph (140 km/h).
A campaign that has careened through a felony trial, incumbent being pushed off the ticket and assassination attempts comes down to Election Day on Tuesday.
Elections BC says it has discovered that a ballot box containing 861 votes wasn't counted in the recent provincial election, as well as other mistakes including 14 votes going unreported in a crucial riding narrowly won by the NDP.
Peel police say four people were arrested and an officer was injured following several protests in Mississauga and Brampton Sunday afternoon, including one at a Hindu temple that turned violent.
A lawyer for Elon Musk 's political action committee told a judge in Philadelphia on Monday that so-called 'winners' of his US$1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes in swing states are not chosen by chance but are instead chosen to be paid 'spokespeople' for the group.
Three people were arrested after duelling protests erupted into violence outside a Hindu temple in Surrey, B.C., over the weekend, according to the RCMP.
New research from the University of Oregon finds the annual practice of ‘springing forward’ into daylight time affects productivity more than previously thought.
A research team has confirmed a pair of tornadoes touched down in central New Brunswick last week.
Employers at British Columbia ports say they are going ahead with locking out more than 700 foremen across the province after strike activities from union members began.
A year ago, Lorraine O'Quinn was coping with stress, chronic illness and Type 2 diabetes. Then she discovered a health program that she says changed her life.
A Vancouver man is saying goodbye to his nine-to-five and embarking on a road trip from the Canadian Arctic to Antarctica.
A Windsor teen’s social media post showing off a distinctive Windsor pizza topping has gone viral, drawing millions of views worldwide and sparking new curiosity about Windsor-style pizza.
Auston Matthews has come face to face with his look-alike. On Thursday, the Maple Leafs star met seven-year-old Grayson Joseph, who went viral for dressing up as an Auston Matthews hockey card.
A Halifax junk remover shares some of his company’s strangest discoveries.
When Leah arrived at work directing traffic around a construction site, she never expected to see a van painted in all sorts of bright colours, and covered in eclectic decorations, including a stuffed moose attached to its roof.
After 14 years of repairing and selling bicycles out of the garage of her home, a Guelph, Ont. woman’s efforts have ended – for now, at least.
Epcor says it has removed more than 20,000 goldfish from an Edmonton stormwater pond.
Witches and warlocks have been flocking to New Brunswick waterways this month, as a new Halloween tradition ripples across the province.
New Brunswicker Jillea Godin’s elaborate cosplay pieces attract thousands to her online accounts, as well as requests from celebrities for their own pieces.