Authorities are urgently examining the cost of Hurricane Milton after the deadly storm spawned tornadoes before hitting central Florida and then sweeping across the state, leaving behind destroyed homes, roads blocked by downed power lines, fallen trees and debris.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, at least 16 people were killed by the storm and recovery efforts are ongoing, meaning the number could rise. The hurricane made landfall less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene hit northwest Florida and remained over land as a tropical storm, with an unexpectedly high death toll of 230 people, the highest since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the New Orleans hit, causing damage from flooding and strong winds in 10 states.

Milton's powerful and destructive weather system, which spawned dozens of tornadoes in Florida on Wednesday, destroyed an estimated 150 homes, knocked out power to more than 3.3 million customers, swept across barrier islands with a 6-foot storm surge, ripped off the roof of a baseball stadium and toppled a 500-foot construction crane.

A 14-year-old boy was found floating on a section of fence and a Coast Guard helicopter team rescued a man who was floating on an ice chest separated from his boat in the Gulf of Mexico – “a nightmare scenario for even the most experienced sailor,” according to rescuers.

But Milton, which rocked 70 miles south of where it was expected to make landfall, did not cause the level of destruction that authorities had feared. Mass evacuations undoubtedly reduced the death toll after Milton became a Category 5 hurricane as it passed over Mexico, slowed slightly, accelerated again as it crossed the Gulf, and finally hit Florida as a Category 3 hurricane. Tampa was spared a direct hit, and a feared 15-foot storm surge never materialized.

The worst of the storm surge appeared to be in Sarasota County, where it reached 8 to 10 feet – lower than the worst location during Helene. But the 18 inches of rain that fell in some areas is still causing flooding. Causeway bridges and airports have reopened and people are returning to see what remains of their homes. Some are intact, others destroyed, some filled with sand from the powerful sea tide.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said it wasn't “the worst-case scenario.” He said he was “very confident that this area will recover very, very quickly.”

Milton's fatalities included five people killed by tornadoes at Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce on Florida's Atlantic coast and a woman killed by a fallen tree branch in Tampa. Two more women were killed by fallen trees in Volusia County.

But Milton's costs are also being calculated in political terms, triggering a heated wave of accusations between political candidates in next month's national election.

Vice President Kamala Harris and the White House criticized Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his attacks on the federal response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, suggesting he was trying to use the deadly storms to his political advantage.

“In this crisis — as in so many issues affecting people across our country — I think it is so important that leadership recognize dignity,” Harris, the Democratic Party's presidential nominee, said after Biden abandoned his re-election bid in July had at a town hall in Las Vegas on Thursday evening. “I have to emphasize that this is not the time when people are doing politics,” she added.

The vice president's comments came after Trump suggested that the Biden administration's response had been flawed and planned in a partisan manner, leaving Republican voters in the lurch and “dooming Americans.” especially in North Carolina after Helene. “You made these people suffer unjustly,” he said. His comments drew bipartisan criticism, including from some local and state Republican leaders in the affected areas.

Biden called the Republican campaign “so damn un-American with the way they talk about this stuff,” directly adding to Trump: “Take a life, man.”

Meteorologists tracking Milton were plagued by conspiracy theories that they control the weather, even through a nuclear explosion, and faced death threats.

“I've never seen a storm that amassed so much misinformation, we just put out a fire full of false information everywhere,” said CBS meteorologist Katie Nickolaou. She added: “Killing meteorologists will not stop hurricanes. I can’t believe I just had to type that.”