Voters Cast Voters Amid Wind and Flood Damage in Hurricane-Battered Florida

ASTOR, Fla. — For at least a week and a half after Hurricane Milton rolled through this small village in central Florida, Harriet Johnson and her family lived in St. Louis. He battled the high waters of the St. Johns River.

The water of the state’s longest river surrounded their tidy cream-colored homes, requiring a constant vacuuming and mopping effort to keep the water out. For Johnson, 81, the experience was harrowing and left her wondering whether she should stay in the home where she had lived for 28 years, formerly with her late husband and now with her adult son and his wife.

“I love this place. I love where it is, but you get tired of walking through it. “You have to work hard,” said Johnson, who was removed from his home for three months due to flooding after Hurricane Irma in 2017. “It comes to mind after a while.”

But he said the grueling experience won’t change his support for Kamala Harris. He planned to vote Tuesday, even though his backyard was flooded and sandbags were still piled outside his front door. He said he made his decision before the storm.

Floridians across the state voted on Election Day amid wind and flood damage, less than a month after Milton made landfall in southwest Florida as a Category 3 storm. The hurricane became the second hurricane to hit the state in just 13 days, after Helene hit Northwest Florida as a Category 4 storm and caused a wide swath of destruction from Florida to western North Carolina.

This was the first time two major hurricanes hit Florida in two weeks. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has provided more than $1 billion in Florida assistance to help recover Helene and Milton, as well as Hurricane Debby, which made landfall in northwestern Florida as a Category 1 storm in August. More than 14,700 households have checked into FEMA-funded hotels and rooming houses since Milton and Helene hit the peninsula, the federal agency said.

Milton arrives less than two weeks before early voting begins in Florida on Oct. 21. Republican Governor Ron DeSantis released a statement. executive order For example, allowing election supervisors in the 24 affected counties to change polling places and extend deadlines for requesting a mail-in ballot. The resolution stated that election officials were concerned about damage, power outages and voter displacement, as well as concerns about meeting deadlines, providing early voting sites and training employees.

Aubrey Jewett, deputy director of the School of Politics, Security and International Affairs at the University of Central Florida and co-author of Politics in Florida, said hurricanes may have a small impact on voter turnout.

“Florida was lucky that the hurricanes didn’t hit right before the election like they did the week before, which would have caused a lot more disruption,” he said. “Since it happened about five weeks to a month ago, it gave the state some time to recover and plan. “And of course, as we have early mail-in voting and early in-person voting, these options provide Floridians with more opportunities to vote.”

Polls show climate change is a major issue for Floridians, who have endured several major storms in recent years as the planet warms. About 88 percent of Floridians believe climate change is occurring, and 52 percent are more likely to support candidates who support policies that address the issue. questionnaire It was published last month by Florida Atlantic University. The survey was conducted between September 4 and 6, before Milton and Helene attacked the province.

But Jewett wasn’t surprised that the hurricanes didn’t affect Johnson’s or other Floridians’ votes. While climate change is a major concern for Floridians, others rank higher, he said.

“Going forward, it’s not usually a top-five issue,” he said. “Even after hurricanes.”

Greg Wilson boarded Milton at Astor in the trailer where he lives with his dog Geronimo.

“It was like driving down a bumpy road,” said Wilson, 60, adding that the camper was shaken throughout the night. “The dog was probably more scared than me. He was on edge all night.”

He doubted the hurricanes would prevent many people from voting in Astor, a small low-lying community that experienced widespread flooding after Milton. The community is located 310 miles north of Jacksonville in St. Louis, where it flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It is located in a bend of the Johns River. Floods still continue here.

“The river is part of life,” said Wilson, a retired truck driver. “Because of the river, most of the people who live here feel like the river is flowing through them. It’s a part of them. They enjoy the atmosphere and the peace. I guess you could say it’s spiritual.”

He believes government leaders could have done more to control the state’s explosive growth and development, which he sees as contributing to the flooding. Other residents were concerned about skyrocketing insurance rates and wanted more spending on resiliency projects for their communities.

Rich Williams said he couldn’t afford the insurance on the house he inherited from his parents. After Milton, he managed to keep the water out by vacuuming day and night; He said this grueling ordeal wouldn’t stop him from voting for Donald Trump on Tuesday.

“I think the people who will be hit the hardest will be the displaced people who lost their homes due to the flooding,” said Williams, 68, who retired from a web hosting business.

Johnson’s home, St. It is located between two canals that flow into the St. Johns River. After Milton, the channels merged to form a single wave that threatened his home, although his son had reinforced it with about 200 sandbags. Eventually the water receded, leaving the house with minimal wear and tear, but the river remained high enough that his backyard was still flooded. He knew that many of his neighbors were less fortunate.

“I’m sure there are a lot more people … it might not be easy to get out there and vote,” he said. “A lot of people lost their homes.”