Charles H. Sloan-In Hurricane-Battered Florida, Voters Cast Ballots Amid Wind and Flood Damage

ASTOR,Charles H. Sloan Fla.—For at least a week and a half after Hurricane Milton swirled by this central Florida hamlet, Harriet Johnson and her family battled the high water of the St. Johns River.

The water of the state’s longest river surrounded their tidy cream-colored home, forcing a constant effort of vacuuming and mopping to keep the water out. For Johnson, 81, the experience was harrowing and left her doubting whether she would remain in the home where she has lived for 28 years, previously with her late husband and now her grown son and his wife.

“I love this place. I love where it is, but you get tired of going through that. You have to work so hard,” said Johnson, who was displaced from the house for three months in 2017 because of flooding after Hurricane Irma. “It just gets to you after a while.”

But she said the exhausting experience would not change her support for Kamala Harris. She planned to vote Tuesday even though her backyard remained swamped and sandbags still were stacked at her front door. Her mind was made up before the storm, she said.

Across the state Floridians cast ballots on Election Day amid wind and flood damage less than a month after Milton made landfall in southwest Florida as a Category 3 storm. The hurricane was the second to strike the state in a mere 13 days, after Helene hit northwest Florida as a Category 4 storm, carving out a vast swath of destruction from Florida to western North Carolina. 

This was the first time two major hurricanes pummeled Florida within the span of two weeks. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided more than $1 billion to assist with the recovery in Florida from Helene and Milton, as well as Hurricane Debby, which came ashore in northwest Florida in August as a Category 1 storm. Since Milton and Helene struck the peninsula, more than 14,700 households have checked into FEMA-funded hotels and lodging, the federal agency said.

Milton arrived less than two weeks before early voting began in Florida on Oct. 21. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, issued an executive order enabling supervisors of elections in 24 affected counties to move voting locations and extend deadlines for requesting mail-in ballots, for instance. The order said the elections officials were concerned about damage, power outages and displaced voters and also meeting deadlines, providing early voting sites and training workers.

It was possible the hurricanes would have a small effect on voter turnout, said Aubrey Jewett, associate director of the School of Politics, Security and International Affairs at the University of Central Florida and a co-author of the book Politics in Florida.

“Florida was lucky that the hurricanes didn’t hit right before the election, like the week before, which would have caused a lot more disruption,” he said. “Since it happened like a month, five weeks before, it has given the state time to recover to some degree and make plans. And of course because we have early mail voting and early in-person voting, those options give Floridians more opportunities to get their ballot in.”

Surveys show climate change is an important issue for Floridians, who in recent years have weathered a spate of major storms as the planet warms. Some 88 percent of Floridians believe climate change is happening, and 52 percent are more likely to support candidates who back policies addressing the issue, according to one survey released last month by Florida Atlantic University. The survey was conducted from Sept. 4 to 6, before Milton and Helene struck the state.

Jewett was not surprised, however, that the hurricanes would not sway Johnson’s vote or that of other Floridians. He said while climate change is a significant concern for Floridians, others rank higher.

“When push comes to shove, that’s not usually an issue that is a top five issue,” he said. “Even in the aftermath of hurricanes.”

Greg Wilson rode out Milton in Astor in the camper where he lives with his dog, Geronimo.

“It was like going down a bumpy road,” said Wilson, 60, adding the camper shook throughout the night. “The dog was probably more scared than I was. He was nervous all night.”

He doubted the hurricanes would prevent many from voting in Astor, a small low-lying community that experienced widespread flooding after Milton. The community is situated on a bend of the St. Johns River, which meanders 310 miles north to Jacksonville, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Pockets of flooding still linger here.

“The river is a part of life,” said Wilson, a retired truck driver. “Most of the people that live around here because of the river, it kind of feels like the river runs through them. It’s part of them. They enjoy the atmosphere, the tranquility. I guess you could say it’s spiritual.”

He believes government leaders could do more to control the state’s explosive growth and development, which he thought contributed to the flooding. Other residents worried about skyrocketing insurance rates and wanted more spending on resiliency projects for their community.

Rich Williams said he couldn’t afford insurance for his home, which he inherited from his parents. After Milton he was able to keep the water out with round-the-clock vacuuming, an exhausting ordeal that he said would not stop him from voting Tuesday for Donald Trump.

“I think the people who are going to be affected the most are the ones who are displaced, that lost their homes due to flooding,” said Williams, 68, who retired from a web-hosting business.

Johnson’s home is situated between two canals that flow into the St. Johns River. After Milton the canals combined to form a single surge that threatened her home, although her son had fortified the residence with about 200 sandbags. Eventually the water receded, leaving the home with minimal wear and tear, but the river remained high enough that her backyard still was underwater. She knew many of her neighbors were less fortunate.

“I’m sure there are a lot more people … that it might not be easy to get out there and vote,” she said. “A lot of people have lost their houses.”