Florida
Satellite images show how Hurricane Milton reshaped parts of Florida coastline
Hurricane Milton lashed Florida’s Gulf Coast with flooding rain and winds of 120 miles per hour that left homes — and, in some cases, full neighborhoods — drenched, muddied and dilapidated. At least 24 deaths have been blamed on the storm, officials confirmed to CBS News.
Satellite images illustrate the scope of the damage in coastal communities along the western part of the Florida peninsula, near the Sarasota barrier island of Siesta Key where Milton made landfall Wednesday, Oct. 9, as a powerful Category 3 hurricane.
The images, captured one day after the storm struck the region, show beaches in Siesta Key and Anna Maria Island, another barrier island just north of Milton’s landfall site, darkened and damaged, each riddled with murky sand that appears to push inland toward the surrounding streets and buildings. They appear to the left side of satellite images taken of the same areas before the latest hurricane.
CBS News correspondent Nicole Valdes flew over Siesta Key with the Florida National Guard on Friday, observing vast devastation from above as loose metal and other debris littered the landscape. This area was among the Gulf Coast communities struggling in the wake of back-to-back hurricanes, as Hurricane Helene rammed into the region less than two weeks before Milton arrived.
Anna Maria Island’s beaches remained closed Tuesday, according to the region’s severe weather information center, as did government offices like the island’s chamber of commerce building. In Siesta Key, a boil water notice was still in place and Fisherman’s Haven and Sanderling Road, at the lower edge of the barrier island, did not yet have water restored, Sarasota County officials said.
Another satellite image shows destruction in Clearwater, near Tampa and St. Petersburg, where first responders used high-water vehicles and boats to rescue families who were trapped inside of a local apartment complex.
“We lost everything, I lost everything, there was about 10 feet of water in my apartment right, because I tried to go back in and grab some stuff, and it rising, rising, it was up to my chest,” one man who lives in the complex told CBS News.
Some homes in the nearby Tampa area were almost completely submerged underwater after the storm, while the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office conducted dozens of rescues and evacuated more than 135 residents from an assisted living facility.
In Cortez, a fishing village also located along the coast in Sarasota County that was damaged by both Helene and Milton, a satellite shows debris covering roads and the docks that line the waterfront. Both hurricanes battered the historic village, tearing down trees and power lines and reducing buildings to piles of rubble.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune published additional photos of homes and docks in Cortez that completely collapsed. Milton also ripped off a portion the roof of a condominium in the area, with satellite images taken over that section of the village showing debris scattered on the ground and spread across the area around it.
In Manasota Key, on the western coast of Florida just south of Sarasota, Milton’s storm surge sent massive boulders and at least one boat up the beaches and hurled them into waterfront buildings. Heaps of sand left in the hurricane’s wake were piled 6 feet tall in some places, reported CBS News’ Tom Hanson from the island. Hanson described “a devastating scene” and said the sand resembled “snow drift from a blizzard” that coated both the insides and outsides of homes.
The beach was diminished from Milton, Hanson reported, and Gulf waters were much closer to shore than they had been before the storm.
After Milton knocked out power to some 3 million people in Florida, officials said they expected electricity to be fully restored across the state by Tuesday night. Meanwhile President Biden has authorized an additional $612 million in federal aid to help areas in Florida and North Carolina affected by Milton and Helene.
Florida
Tallahassee gas prices rise due to Iran war; how to find cheapest pump prices
If you’re kicking yourself for not filling up your vehicle over the weekend or earlier this week, you have good reason.
Gas prices have been going up steadily — sometimes sharply — since the U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran started Saturday, Feb. 28.
In Tallahassee, prices have jumped 26 cents from last week with an average gallon of gas currently sitting at $3.08, according to AAA. The highest price on record in Florida’s capital city was $4.84 a gallon in June 2022.
Since Monday, March 2, Florida gas prices have jumped almost 36 cents for a gallon of regular, according to AAA.
The war is spreading throughout the Middle East and at least six U.S. soldiers have been killed, including one from Florida.
➤ Live updates: Senate won’t check Trump’s war
Here’s what you should know as the war with Iran continues.
Florida not alone in worrying about rising gas prices
Gas prices surge as Iran war closes Strait of Hormuz
Gas prices rise as Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz threatening oil supply and raising fears of global economic fallout.
Gas prices were already rising before the attacks on Iran began Feb. 28. It’s a regular seasonal swing as spring arrives, according to AAA.
➤ Americans fret over gas prices as Iran war widens
Iran has retaliated with missile and drone attacks that have now killed at least six U.S. servicemembers, including one from Florida.
➤ Florida Army Reserve captain killed in Iran war
Analysts said the war will likely drive up prices by an additional 20 to 30 cents per gallon, partly due to supply issues and partly due to global uncertainty.
Here’s a look at gas prices per gallon of regular provided by AAA this week:
- March 5: $3.251
- March 4: $3.19
- March 3: $3.061
Compare to:
- Week ago: $2.983
- Month ago: $2.891
- Year ago: $3.107
What’s average price of gas in Florida?
AAA posted the average price in Florida on March 5 was $3.241, slightly less than the national average of $3.251.
Here’s a comparison of the daily average price of a gallon of regular this week as provided by AAA:
- March 5: $3.241
- March 4: $3.198
- March 3: $3.068
- March 2: $2.883
In comparison:
- Week ago average: $2.940
- Month ago average: $2.882
- Year ago average: $3.084
Will Florida gas prices keep going up?
The national average price of gas is “likely to move toward $3.10 to $3.15 (per gallon) within one to two weeks … and to $3.20 to $3.25 within two to three weeks,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis with GasBuddy, on March 1.
On March 2, DeHaan said he expected gas prices “at average stations” nationally to increase by 10 to 30 cents in the coming week.
President Trump: Oil prices may be high ‘for a little while’
President Donald Trump told reporters March 3 oil prices may be high “for a little while.”
As soon as the war ends, “these prices are going to drop, I believe even lower than before,” Trump said.
In a post on TruthSocial March 3, Trump said: “If necessary, the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, as soon as possible. No matter what, the United States will ensure the FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD.”
How can you find the cheapest gas?
Whether you’re traveling or at home, gasbuddy.com offers information to find the cheapest prices for gasoline.
Enter your state, city or ZIP code to find the Top 10 gas stations and cheap fuel prices.
Cheryl McCloud is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://palmbeachpost.com/newsletters.
Florida
Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’
It only took three weeks for a group chat for conservative students at Florida International University (FIU) to become a place where participants eagerly used racist slurs, prompting widespread condemnation from community leaders.
Abel Alexander Carvajal, secretary of Miami-Dade county’s Republican party and a student at FIU’s College of Law, reportedly started the chat after the killing of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, in September 2025.
But on Wednesday, the Miami Herald published leaked WhatsApp conversations in which the college Republicans made racist, sexist, antisemitic and homophobic comments, including variations of the N-word used more than 400 times. Knowledge of the chat’s existence was revealed on the same day that Republican lawmakers in Florida pushed forward a bill to rename a one-mile stretch of road alongside FIU in honor of Kirk.
William Bejerano, who the Herald noted once tried to start an anti-abortion group at Miami Dade College, was the most prolific user of the N-word. Using the slur, Bejerano called for dozens of acts of extreme violence against Black people, including crucifying, beheading and dissecting.
Dariel Gonzalez, then the College Republicans’ recruitment chair, who has recently applied to become a GOP committee member, responded to the calls for violence by saying: “How edgy.” He repeatedly used “colored” to describe Black people, including writing: “Ew you had colored professors?!” and “Avoid the coloreds like the plague,” according to the Herald.
Carvajal, who was appointed to a two-year role on the city of Hialeah’s planning and zoning board earlier this year, confirmed to the paper that the group chat was his doing, but he denied knowledge of the problematic comments until the publication contacted him about its logs last week.
“It’s been five months since this was sent and this is the first time I’ve seen this message,” Carvajal told the Herald.
“I guess to an extent, I bear some responsibility, cause I created a chat. But if I had seen this at the moment, I would have removed [Bejerano] from the chat. I probably would have even blocked his number.”
The Herald found that Carvajal had deleted 14 messages sent by other participants in the chat and 42 of his own messages before the publication obtained the chat’s logs.
He also participated in some of the racist discussions. While referring to a Black student who allegedly left FIU’s College Republicans after a member of the group “called her a [N-word]”, the Floridian reported that Carvajal wrote: “Why didn’t miggress leave?” Elsewhere in the chat, the publication reported that Carvajal used “Miggress”, “Migglet” and “Migger” to refer to Black women, Black children and Black people, in general.
At one point, Gonzalez wrote: “You can fuck all the [K-word, a slur for Jewish people] you want. Just don’t marry them and procreate.”
Ian Valdes, the Turning Point USA FIU chapter president, responded, “I would def not marry a Jew,” before changing the group chat’s name from “Uber [R-word slur for disabled people] Yapping” to “Gooning in Agartha”. “Gooning” is a gen-Z slang term for male masturbation, while “Agartha” is a mythical white civilization promoted by Heinrich Himmler, one of the most powerful leaders in Nazi Germany next to Hitler.
Gonzalez reportedly described Agartha to the group chat as “Nazi heaven sort of”.
Kevin Cooper, the first Jewish chair of the Miami Dade Republican party, condemned the group chat in a statement published to X and called for Carvajal’s resignation.
“The majority of our board voted to request Carvajal’s resignation. We have commenced removal proceedings and look forward to resolution from the Republican Party of Florida,” he wrote.
That call was echoed by Juan Porras, a Republican state representative and Miami-Dade GOP state committee member, who said in a statement: “Leadership carries responsibility. When someone in a leadership role engages in this kind of behavior, it damages the trust placed in our party by voters across Florida. For that reason, I am asking the Miami Dade Republican party secretary to step down from this position.”
In a joint statement, Florida Republican state senators Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia and Ana Maria Rodriguez denounced the chats and called for the expulsion from party leadership of its participants.
“The individuals in the group chat have exposed how profoundly misaligned their beliefs are to the views of the Republican party of Florida,” their statement said. “We call for the immediate expulsion of the individuals disseminating from any level of leadership of the Miami-Dade Republican Party … We will not tolerate bigotry or discrimination.”
Multiple leaked group chats from young Republicans have created controversy in recent years.
Last year, Politico published messages from a group chat of more than 100 conservatives across the country in which users also made racist and antisemitic comments. In 2022, a Young Republican group chat from North Dakota was revealed as a cesspool of homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric.
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