(The Center Square) – Florida has been hit by 11 major hurricanes (Category 3 or greater) since 2004, but the state’s exposure to tropical cyclones can wax and wane.
So far this year, the state has been hit by major hurricanes, Helene and Milton, and a relatively weak Category 1 storm Debby earlier this summer. It is the fourth time since 1851 that the state has been hit by multiple major hurricanes and the third time in the past 20 years.
Two of those storms, Debby and Helene, made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida, which was hit in 2023 by Hurricane Idalia.
In a news conference on Monday in Palmetto, Gov. Ron DeSantis said 3.8 million accounts have had their electric service restored since Milton made landfall on Oct. 9 near Siesta Key, with about 369,000 awaiting service.
The death toll from Milton is up to 16.
“We’re less than 96 hours from when Hurricane Milton left the state of Florida,” DeSantis said. “I think FPL thinks by tomorrow they’ll have everybody up. To have two hurricanes hit and have to do restoration, those guys have done a great job.”
FPL is the acronym for Florida Power and Light.
The state staged 50,000 linemen before the storm, some of which came from California. DeSantis also said that there were 2,500 fuel trucks disbursing 5 million gallons of fuel to affected areas, with fuel coming in by ship to ports in Tampa, Manatee and Port Everglades.
DeSantis announced the state would provide Port Manatee on the Gulf Coast $9.5 million to “jump start the recovery and help provide money for impacted infrastructure.”
Most of that, $5.5 million, will go for emergency berth repairs and dredging in state waters, with $3.5 million for security needs and access control.
Unfortunately for Floridians, hurricane season won’t end until Nov. 30, but at least the season’s peak in September is in the rearview mirror.
Florida has gone long stretches without a major hurricane landfall only to have a few strike the state in a single season.
After two major hurricanes, Easy and King, made landfall in the state in 1950, the 1960s had three while the 1970s and 1980s were quiet with only one per decade. The 1990s were marked by 1992’s Category 5 Hurricane Andrew, the second-strongest storm to strike the state since the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, and 1995’s Hurricane Opal, which hit Pensacola.
Since 1851, only 18 hurricane seasons have passed in Florida without a landfalling hurricane.
Before Hurricane Irma made landfall near Cudjoe Key on Sept. 10, 2017, the state had gone 12 years without a strike from a major hurricane.
An eight-year break between 1995 and 2004 ended when Hurricane Charley made landfall near Cayo Costa on Aug. 13, 2004, as a small, potent Category 4 storm.
This season is becoming as infamous as 2004, when three major hurricanes — Charley, Jeanne and Ivan — made landfall and another, Frances, made landfall as a Category 2 storm.
Three of those storms – Charley, Frances and Jeanne – crossed central Florida, while Ivan hit Gulf Shores, Ala., and northwest Florida.
