Florida residents are returning to flooded streets and homes gone after Milton

There wasn’t much more than piles debris from shattered homes when Vickie Ward returned to her Grove City, Florida, neighborhood after Hurricane Milton.

There wasn’t much more than piles of debris from shattered homes when Vickie Ward returned Friday to her Grove City, Florida, neighborhood after Hurricane Milton. “We have stuff in our yard, I don’t even know where it belongs because it’s people’s debris from the last one (Hurricane Helene) that just never got picked up,” Ward said about how the damage in her coastal town located about one hour northwest of Fort Myers. Ward is among thousands of residents in the Sunshine State who are starting to return to their homes to assess the impact of Milton’s destructive force. The hurricane made landfall earlier this week as a dangerous Category 3 storm, claiming at least 17 lives, and destroying homes, roads and power lines. In St. Petersburg, storm chaser Brandon Clement says he met several residents in front of where their homes “used to be” because they are no more than a pile of debris. “It’s not a pretty sight. It’s really a heartbreaking moment to see,” said Clement, adding that Milton was a “catastrophic hurricane that impacted a lot of people across a very large area.” Angie Dooley, 20, and her father are seeking shelter Friday after their ground floor apartment in Daytona Beach got flooded.