Hurricane Milton: At least 14 deaths confirmed after monster storm slams into Florida

The dangerous storm spawned a tornado outbreak ahead of landfall. Millions were without power after the hurricane made landfall as a Category 3 storm.

Although there has been immense loss and suffering after two hurricanes in 13 days, such challenging moments also bring out our humanity and compassion. NBC News’ Lester Holt reports.

Small business owners in the Southeast who’ve been waiting for long-delayed pandemic aid are pushing for that money to recover from this fall’s brutal hurricane season. The federal government says more of it is heading their way soon.

Around 400,000 claims worth $10 billion are now being processed for eligible business owners who applied for tax refunds under the Covid-era Employee Retention Credit program, the IRS said Thursday.

The agency didn’t give a concrete timeline or geographic details about the applicants, but it said Thursday that it’s accelerating work on those claims, and it estimated this summer that at least 1.4 million were still in queue.

“Our top priority is to quickly help taxpayers affected by the devastation of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton,” IRS spokesperson Mike Martinez told NBC News. He also highlighted recently announced tax relief for those in affected regions, including filing and payment extensions for individuals and businesses. “We understand the urgent need across the federal government to provide financial assistance to small businesses.”

Fort Myers residents are starting to see the damage Hurricane Milton brought to their community. One woman shares her “heart-wrenching” process of rebuilding again after multiple hurricanes have come through in the recent years.