News Update for 10/14/24

A special meeting will be held this afternoon by the Highlands County School Board to discuss the agenda from the October 8th meeting that was cancelled due to Hurricane Milton. One thing up for discussion will be the purchase of metal detectors for a pilot program at Lake Placid High School and the Academy at Youth Care Lane. The School Board is considering the purchase of three metal detectors at the total cost of $55,770 which also includes the cost of training on setup and use of the devices. A workshop on October 17th will help determine other options for possible expansion of the program to other schools. The meeting will be held at 5:30pm.

Highlands County continues to assess the widespread damage caused by Hurricane Milton which hit Wednesday night, but some of those damages may have lingering effects. The Avon Park Shuffleboard Club had heavy damage not only to the pan roof and the roof covering the bathrooms and disc rooms, but also extensive court damages affecting the foundation. These damages to the pan roof are especially hard for the Club because the replacement roof was just installed in August to fix damage from a hailstorm in 2022. The repairs that will have to be made may have disqualified any future tournaments this season as 14 out of 22 courts are currently out of use. The Club plans to make determinations next week on their next steps and if a season is even possible.

Polk County plans to shut down a distribution site set up after Hurricane Milton. The county announced yesterday today is the final day you can get free food and water at Family Life Church in Frostproof on Bulldog Way. It’ll be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. or until supplies run out. County officials also announced yesterday that debris collection will begin today. Residents are asked to clean up storm damage and move debris to the curb for collection.

Hurricane Milton is now at fault for 17 deaths in Florida. State officials confirmed the new death toll Friday afternoon. Six deaths were caused by tornadoes in St. Lucie Country. One death was in Citrus County when a man crashed into a falling tree, and a woman died in Hillsborough County when she was hit by a falling tree limb. In Orange County, a man died after stepping on a downed power line. Officials say they expect the death toll to rise as crews begin recovery efforts across Florida. Over a thousand people have been rescued so far, and officials warn the floodwaters are still dangerous in some areas.

Many Floridians are still dealing with power outages and long gas lines Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis says unfortunately, thousands also lost their cellular service. Patronis says Verizon Wireless suffered catastrophic failure in Polk County while T-Mobile and AT&T did not. He says Verizon has almost completely restored service after he called the company out.

State transportation officials are giving Florida residents a break in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. A Florida DOT spokesperson announced that tolls will remain suspended to assist residents as they return home after evacuating from areas impacted by last week’s passage Hurricane Milton. Authorities say all pre-determined tolling facilities will remain suspended at least until today. For more information and official updates, go to the Florida DOT website.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis opened multiple post-storm fuel-distribution sites offering free gas to residents in areas impacted last week by Hurricane Milton. Sites are now up and running in Plant City, Bradenton and Saint Petersburg. DeSantis said a similar facility would be set up in the heart of Tampa later this week, followed by other free fuel-distribution sites in Pinellas and Sarasota counties in the short term. Residents reportedly will be able to pump 10 gallons of free fuel to tide them over as the state recovers from the storm that left at least 17 people dead after it swept over the state on Thursday.

President Biden may now have a better understanding of the damage Hurricane Milton caused in Tampa Bay. He was in the area yesterday to get a first-hand look at how the storm impacted places like St. Pete Beach. He pledged full support for the affected communities and announced 612-million dollars in federal funding for six Department of Energy projects in the Southeast. . Pinellas County Commission Chair Kathleen Peters toured the area with Biden. She says she asked him to merge hurricanes Helene and Milton into one disaster to make the recovery process quicker.

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