GIORGIO VIERA AFP
The death toll from Hurricane Milton has risen to at least 16, officials in Florida said Friday, and millions were still without power as residents began the painful process of piecing their lives back together.
In a White House briefing, US President Joe Biden said experts estimated the cost of storm damage at $50 billion.
The federal response to the huge storm and to Hurricane Helene, which devastated parts of the US southeast just two weeks earlier, has taken on an increasingly political edge, and Biden said he would visit Florida on Sunday.
Amid questions as to whether the federal response is adequately funded, the president called on Congress to "step up" its efforts, particularly to shore up hard-hit small businesses. The agency that lends to them and their families said Friday it is overwhelmed by this disaster and others and is running out of money.
Former president Donald Trump has falsely claimed that the Biden-Harris administration has diverted hurricane response funds to care for migrants, drawing pushback even from some Republican officials.
Asked whether Trump was singularly to blame for a dangerous swirl of misinformation, Biden replied, "No... but he has the biggest mouth."
The National Weather Service issued a record 126 tornado warnings across the state on Wednesday.
Experts said Friday that human-induced climate change made Hurricane Milton wetter and windier.
What would have been a Category 2 storm, the World Weather Attribution group of climate scientists said in a report, instead grew into a more destructive Category 3, on a five-point scale.
© Agence France-Presse
