Hurricanes Helene and Milton cause major disruption to small business in Florida

The federal price tag for Hurricanes Milton and Helene has topped $2B.

Back-to-back hurricanes Helene and Milton, which slammed Florida in late September and early October, respectively, have caused significant damage to small businesses in the Sunshine State.

A new analysis by Homebase, a payroll and employee management website, shows that Florida took a bit of a hit after Helene nailed the west coast of Florida on Sept. 26. Then Milton plowed into the Gulf Coast before crossing the state peninsula on Oct. 9 and 10.

Small business activity dropped by 40% in October compared to September and another 30% decrease compared to October 2023.

According to the Homebase study, specific areas that were hit the hardest by the tropical blasts saw the most significant impact on small businesses. Three regions saw the sharpest decreases in business activity in three years.

Sarasota has endured a 46.7% drop in three years. St. Petersburg wasn’t far behind, with a 45.5% decrease in business activity, and Tampa came in with a 38.4% decline in business over three years.

“Across Florida, we’re seeing a 21.4% decrease in employees working and 20.8% decrease in hours worked. This trend is even more severe for cities like Sarasota, St. Petersburg, and Tampa,” the Homebase analysis said.

Many businesses and residents are still recovering from the double-barreled strike in storms. However, Homebase said many companies took half a month to get operations straight again.

“Small businesses took an average of two weeks to recover from Hurricane Helene, which may provide a gauge for Florida’s recovery period,” Homebase analysts found.

The workforce itself in Florida was substantially adversely affected by the storms.

“Compared with the week of September 8, St. Petersburg saw the most significant decrease in hours worked, down by 53.9%, and employees working, down by 52.2%,” said Homebase. “Tampa was a close second with a 48.7% decrease in hours worked and a 48% decrease in employees working.”

The Homebase analysis is consistent with U.S.  Department of Labor (DOL) figures on weekly new unemployment claims. The week ending Oct. 5, the first full week after Hurricane Helene, saw a huge spike in first-time weekly jobless filings for unemployment benefits. There were 9,377 initial unemployment claims, the highest number of filings this year, up 3,842 claims over the previous week.

The following week, ending Oct. 12, returned to more normal new jobless claims in Florida with over 6,000 filings, and the week after Hurricane Helene, a bigger batch of first-time jobless filings occurred. There were 10,574 initial unemployment filings for the week ending Oct. 19, the highest number of single-week claims this year before seasonal adjustments, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced Thursday. That’s up 4,275 claims from the week ending Oct. 12, the most significant weekly jump this year.