LONDON (AP) — Alex Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland who for decades championed Scotland’s independence from the U.K. and nearly accomplished it, has died. He was 69.
Salmond, who was one of the most divisive figure in British politics at the turn of the century and who as the then leader of the Scottish National Party took Scotland to the brink of independence in the 2014 referendum, died in the North Macedonia lake-resort town of Ohrid, local media reported.
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FILE - Alex Salmond holds his honorary degree awarded to him by Glasgow University on April 4, 2021. (Danny Lawson/PA via AP)
FILE - Queen Elizabeth II meets Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond at Holyroodhouse on May 24, 2007. (David Cheskin/PA via AP)
FILE - Alex Salmond takes some tennis shots during a tour of Stirling University's new sports facilities on April 27, 2007. (David Cheskin/PA via AP)
FILE - Alex Salmond speaks during a debate following the Government's defeat on their fishing policy on Dec. 19, 1995. (PA via AP, File)
FILE - Alex Salmond speaks to the media on College Green, Westminster, London on Oct. 11, 2022. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
FILE - Alex Salmond poses for a photo during a visit to the Scotsman Lounge in Edinburgh on the campaign trail for the Scottish Parliamentary Election on May 3, 2021. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)
File photo dated 18/03/07 of FILE - Alex Salmond addresses the Scottish National Party (SNP) conference at Glasgow Science Centre on March 18, 2007. (Danny Lawson/PA via AP)
FILE - Alex Salmond speaks at the SNP conference in Glasgow on Oct. 14, 2016. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)
File photo dated 14/04/05 of FILE - Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party is photographed on April 14, 2005. (Maurice McDonald/PA via AP)
FILE - Alex Salmond stands at Stirling Castle to mark the start of the party's Mid Scotland and Fife campaign, ahead of the Scottish Parliamentary election on April 13, 2021 (Andrew Milligan/PA via AP)
FILE - Alex Salmond, former Scotland first minister, attends an Alba party meeting in Dundee, Scotland, on April 19, 2022. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP, File)
“Unfortunately, Alex Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland who was one of the panellists at yesterday’s cultural diplomacy forum that was held in Ohrid, died suddenly today," according to a statement from the office of former North Macedonia President Gjorgje Ivanov.
Tributes poured in from across the political spectrum, with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the Labour Party calling him a “monumental figure" of both Scottish and British politics.
“He leaves behind a lasting legacy,” Starmer said. “As first minister of Scotland, he cared deeply about Scotland’s heritage, history and culture, as well as the communities he represented.”
Salmond served as first minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014, and was leader of the Scottish National Party on two occasions, from 1990 to 2000, and from 2004 to 2014. Salmond led the independence campaign in the referendum in 2014, but lost, gaining 45% of the vote, and subsequently resigned from the top job and replaced by his long-time ally, Nicola Sturgeon. Their subsequent split dominated Scottish politics for years.
“Obviously, I cannot pretend that the events of the past few years which led to the breakdown of our relationship did not happen, and it would not be right for me to try," Sturgeon said after learning of Salmond's death. “However, it remains the fact that for many years Alex was an incredibly significant figure in my life. He was my mentor, and for more than a decade we formed one of the most successful partnerships in U.K politics.”
In 2019, Salmond was charged with sexual assault and attempted rape after allegations by nine women who had worked with him as first minister or for the party. Salmond called the charges “deliberate fabrications for a political purpose." Salmond was acquitted after a trial in March 2020.
A year later, he created a new party called Alba — the Scottish Gaelic word for Scotland — that made few inroads into Scottish politics and sought a new independence referendum come what may.
The current SNP first minister, John Swinney, said that he was "deeply shocked and saddened at the untimely death" of Salmond.
“Over many years, Alex made an enormous contribution to political life, not just within Scotland, but across the U.K. and beyond," he said. “He took the Scottish National Party from the fringes of Scottish politics into government and led Scotland so close to becoming an independent country.”
Salmond had said that he learned to dream of an independent Scotland at his grandfather’s knee, and chose to join the SNP at university in 1973 when his English girlfriend poked too much fun at his separatist sentiments.
Salmond’s academic and professional background prepared him to become Scotland’s most economically optimistic and visionary politician. At St. Andrew’s University. he double-majored in medieval history, reflecting his love of a Caledonia lost, and economics. In his 20s, he worked as an economist first for Britain’s regional government in Scotland and then at the Royal Bank of Scotland, where he analyzed the country’s most dynamic industry, North Sea oil.
He won a seat in the U.K. Parliament in 1987, and within three years was party leader. He supported Tony Blair's Labour government in the late 1990s to create a devolved Scottish parliament in Edinburgh, a reform that stopped short of independence, but gave his homeland a taste of self-government for the first time since its 1707 union with England. Under that new settlement, which was ratified by a referendum, the Scottish Parliament has had a wide array of domestic powers, including over policies on health and education, but not on foreign policy matters.
Salmond then had a very public forum to push his dream of full independence forward — his government had an array of powers especially on social issues — and managed to convince the government of Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron to call a referendum. Up until the results were known, it had been considered a close call.
Though the independence campaign lost, Salmond's SNP managed to capitalize its support and has dominated Scottish politics since. The SNP has been the Edinburgh-based government since, though it suffered a huge setback in this year's U.K.-wide general election, when it lost a vast majority of the seats it held in the House of Commons to Labour. The next Scottish election is due to take place in 2026.
Konstantin Testorides contributed to this report from Skopje, North Macedonia.
FILE - Alex Salmond holds his honorary degree awarded to him by Glasgow University on April 4, 2021. (Danny Lawson/PA via AP)
FILE - Queen Elizabeth II meets Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond at Holyroodhouse on May 24, 2007. (David Cheskin/PA via AP)
FILE - Alex Salmond takes some tennis shots during a tour of Stirling University's new sports facilities on April 27, 2007. (David Cheskin/PA via AP)
FILE - Alex Salmond speaks during a debate following the Government's defeat on their fishing policy on Dec. 19, 1995. (PA via AP, File)
FILE - Alex Salmond speaks to the media on College Green, Westminster, London on Oct. 11, 2022. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
FILE - Alex Salmond poses for a photo during a visit to the Scotsman Lounge in Edinburgh on the campaign trail for the Scottish Parliamentary Election on May 3, 2021. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)
File photo dated 18/03/07 of FILE - Alex Salmond addresses the Scottish National Party (SNP) conference at Glasgow Science Centre on March 18, 2007. (Danny Lawson/PA via AP)
FILE - Alex Salmond speaks at the SNP conference in Glasgow on Oct. 14, 2016. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)
File photo dated 14/04/05 of FILE - Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party is photographed on April 14, 2005. (Maurice McDonald/PA via AP)
FILE - Alex Salmond stands at Stirling Castle to mark the start of the party's Mid Scotland and Fife campaign, ahead of the Scottish Parliamentary election on April 13, 2021 (Andrew Milligan/PA via AP)
FILE - Alex Salmond, former Scotland first minister, attends an Alba party meeting in Dundee, Scotland, on April 19, 2022. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP, File)
BRANDON, Fla. (AP) — Floridians recovering from Hurricane Milton spent much of Saturday searching for gas, with lines snaking around stations as a fuel shortage gripped the state.
In St. Petersburg, scores of people lined up at a station that had no gas, hoping it would arrive soon. Among them was Daniel Thornton and his 9-year-old daughter Magnolia, who arrived at the station at 7 a.m. and were still waiting four hours later.
“They told me they have gas coming but they don’t know when it’s going to be here,” he said. “I have no choice. I have to sit here all day with her until I get gas.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters Saturday morning that the state opened three fuel distribution sites and planned to open several more. Residents can get 10 gallons (37.85 liters) each, free of charge, he said.
“Obviously as power gets restored ... and the Port of Tampa is open, you’re going to see the fuel flowing. But in the meantime, we want to give people another option,” DeSantis said.
Officials were replenishing area gas stations with the state's fuel stockpiles and provided generators to stations that remained without power.
The fuel shortage comes as residents, many of whom fled hundreds of miles to escape the hurricane, were journeying home on crowded highways.
Those who reached home were assessing the damage and beginning the arduous cleaning process. Some, like Bill O’Connell, a board member at Bahia Vista Gulf in Venice, had thought they were done after Hurricane Helene.
“Every single unit that’s on the first floor that’s not elevated above a parking garage has been flooded out twice now,” O’Connell said. “And they’ve got to start the whole process over — cleaning, sanitizing, bringing in drying equipment, getting them all dried and prepped for renovations.”
After Helene, the condo association hired companies to gut, treat and dry the units and rebuild their beach. Hurricane Milton undid that work and caused additional damage, O’Connell said.
“It reflooded everything that was already flooded, brought all the sand back on our property that we removed,” O’Connell said. “And also did some catastrophic wind damage, ripped off many roofs and blew out a lot of windows that caused more damage inside the units.”
In Bradenton Beach, Jen Hilliard used a shovel to scoop up wet sand mixed with rocks and tree roots and dumped the mixture into a wheelbarrow.
“This was all grass,” Hilliard said of the sandy mess beneath her feet. “They’re going to have to make 500 trips of this.”
It wasn’t even her house. The seafoam green home a block from the shore in Bradenton Beach belongs to friends Hilliard first met in Colorado. Hilliard’s family lives further inland and weathered both Helene and Milton just fine.
Furniture and household appliances sat outside the rental house alongside debris from interior drywall that was removed after Helene sent several feet of storm surge into the house. Inside, walls were gutted up to 4 feet (1.2 meters), exposing the beams underneath.
Hilliard, who moved to Florida six months ago, said she was happy to pitch in and help.
“You roll with the punches,” she said. “Community is the best part, though. Everybody helping each other.”
Milton killed at least 10 people after it made landfall as a Category 3 storm, tearing across central Florida, flooding barrier islands and spawning deadly tornadoes. Officials say the toll could have been worse if not for the widespread evacuations.
Overall, more than a thousand people had been rescued in the wake of the storm as of Saturday, DeSantis said.
On Sunday, President Joe Biden will survey the devastation inflicted on Florida’s Gulf Coast by the hurricane. He said he hopes to connect with DeSantis during the visit.
The trip offers Biden another opportunity to press Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to call lawmakers back to Washington to approve more funding during their pre-election recess. It’s something Johnson says he won’t do.
Biden is making the case that Congress needs to act now to ensure the Small Business Administration and FEMA have the money they need to get through hurricane season, which stretches through November in the Atlantic.
DeSantis welcomed the federal government's approval of a disaster declaration announced Saturday and said he had gotten strong support from Biden.
“He basically said, you know, you guys are doing a great job. We’re here for you,” he said when asked about his conversations with Biden. “We sent a big request and we got approved for what we wanted.”
Moody’s Analytics on Saturday estimated economic costs from the storm will range from $50 billion to $85 billion, including upwards of $70 billion in property damage and an economic output loss of up to $15 billion.
As the recovery continues, DeSantis has warned people to be cautious, citing ongoing safety threats including downed power lines and standing water. Some 1.4 million Floridians were still without power by Saturday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Paul Close said rivers will “keep rising" for the next four or five days resulting in river flooding, mostly around Tampa Bay and northward. Those areas were hit by the most rain, which comes on top of a wet summer that included several earlier hurricanes.
“You can't do much but wait,” Close said of the rivers cresting. “At least there is no rain in the forecast, no substantial rain. So we have a break here from all our wet weather.”
Farrington reported from St. Petersburg. Associated Press journalists Chris O'Meara in Lithia, Florida; Curt Anderson in Tampa; Terry Spencer outside of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Stephany Matat in Fort Pierce, Florida; Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale; and Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed.
Scott Bennett, a contractor who specializes in storm recovery, drives a skid steer, bottom, as he removes sand around 5 feet deep from the patio of a beachfront condominium in Venice, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. Bennett said he had just finished digging out the same condominium complex after Hurricane Helene, when Milton buried it in an even deeper layer of sand. Before Helene hit, the Venice native said, he'd "never seen sand like this. Wind rain, water, but never sand." (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Scott Bennett, a contractor who specializes in storm recovery, removes sand around 5 feet deep from the patio of a beachfront condominium in Venice, Fla.,following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A condominium owner who says her unit, at the back of the property, was luckily undamaged, walks beside an almost-buried fence as she surveys the beginning of work to remove feet worth of extra sand from the beach and beachfront properties, in Venice, Fla.,following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Scott Bennett, a contractor who specializes in storm recovery, drives a skid steer as he removes sand around 5 feet deep from the patio of a beachfront condominium in Venice, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Ron and Jean Dyer, high school sweethearts who have been married for 60 years, talk in the living room of their second-floor beachfront condominium, which lost its roof and a section of wall during Hurricane Milton, in Venice, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, second from right, gestures as he holds a news conference after Hurricane Milton at a fuel depot Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Plant City, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Kevin Guthrie, Florida Division of Emergency Management, speaks during a news conference at a newly opened fuel depot Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Plant, Fla. Looking on are Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, left, and Gov. Ron DeSantis, right. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis holds a news conference at a fuel depot in Plant City, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, accompanied by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, right. Gas station are slow to open after the effects of Hurricane Milton. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
A Florida Highway Patrol officer watches as fuel depot workers distribute gas to residents Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Plant City, Fla. Gas stations are slow to reopen after the effects of Hurricane Milton. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Fuel distribution workers fill cars at a depot, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Plant City, Fla. Gas stations are slow to reopen after the effects of Hurricane Milton. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Motorists wait in long lines for fuel at a newly opened depot after Hurricane Milton Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Plant City, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
A boat is submerged outside a flooded home, caused by Hurricane Milton near the Alafia river Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Residents along the Alafia river use a boat as transportation through floodwaters caused by Hurricane Milton Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Resident along the Alafia river carry out their belongings by canoe through floodwaters from Hurricane Milton Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Vehicles and homes in a community inundated by historic flooding of the Alafia River due to Hurricane Milton are seen Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 in Lithia, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Robert Turick, 68, walks on his street as he and other neighbors work to remove debris swept onto their properties by Hurricane Milton storm surge, in Englewood, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Robert Turick, 68, finds a water-damaged album of wedding photos in the debris from other homes swept into his yard by Hurricane Milton storm surge, in Englewood, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Fuel tanker trucks fill up at the Marathon Oil Tampa Terminal located near the Port of Tampa to provide fuel to customers throughout Florida on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 in Tampa, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Debris lies scattered on Manasota Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Paintings hang above several feet of sand filling a condo following the passage of Hurricane Milton, at YCA Vacation Rentals in Venice, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Sarah McRee holds a dog named Poe as she is helped off a high-clearance vehicle by Panellas County Sheriff officials after she was escorted in and out of the Tarpon Woods neighborhood as people return to their homes following Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Palm Harbor, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
People ride in the back of a pickup avoiding floodwaters in the Tarpon Woods neighborhood of Palm Harbor, Fla., following Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Vehicles and homes in a community inundated by historic flooding of the Alafia River due to Hurricane Milton are seen on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 in Lithia, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Water levels reaching mailboxes along Rose St. a community inundated by historic flooding of the Alafia River, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 in Lithia, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Residents ride in a boat in a neighborhood inundated by historic flooding of the Alafia River caused by Hurricane Milton on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 in Lithia, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
An aerial drone view of the scene where a downtown high-rise was smashed by a fallen crane from Hurricane Milton at 490 1st Avenue South, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 in St. Petersburg, Fla. The building damaged by Hurricane Milton is home to the Tampa Bay Times, a law firm, a defense contractor and more. (Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Several feet of displaced sand fills a condo following the passage of Hurricane Milton, at YCA Vacation Rentals in Venice, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A man carries a woman on his back as they wade through floodwaters in the Tarpon Woods neighborhood of Palm Harbor, Fla., following Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Panellas County Sheriff officials escort residents into the Tarpon Woods neighborhood as people return to their homes following Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Palm Harbor, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
An aerial drone view of the scene where a downtown high-rise was smashed by a fallen crane from Hurricane Milton at 490 1st Avenue South, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 in St. Petersburg, Fla. The building damaged by Hurricane Milton is home to the Tampa Bay Times, a law firm, a defense contractor and more. (Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Several feet of sand fills condos at YCA Vacation Rentals, following the passage of Hurricane Milton, in Venice, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Homeowner Robert Turick, 68, left, and storm waste removal contractor Sven Barnes work to clear debris that Hurricane Milton storm surge swept from other properties into Turick's canal-facing back yard, in Englewood, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. Turick, whose family has owned the home for more than 25 years, said it had never flooded until 2022's Hurricane Ian, but since then, it has flooded in three more hurricanes, each bringing higher water levels than the last. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Robert Turick, 68, stands in remaining water in one of his home's bedrooms, where the high water mark from Hurricane Milton can be seen on the wall, in Englewood, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. A small positive, said Turick, is that he hadn't yet begun repairs after Hurricane Helene brought 3-foot flood waters, and he, his dog, and his daughter were staying elsewhere when Milton flooded his home around to 5 feet. During Helene, they had to climb out his daughter's bedroom window to flee rising surge waters, after the front door became blocked. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Only handrails are visible after a beachfront swimming pool was inundated with sand displaced by Hurricane Milton, at Sea Villas condominiums in Venice, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Connor Hughes of Lithia, Fla., moves in deep floodwaters from Hurricane Milton along the Alafia river Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
A member of the Pasco County Sheriff's Office goes out to help residents trapped in their homes as waters rise after Hurricane Milton caused the Anclote River to flood, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in New Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
Several feet of sand fills a condo following the passage of Hurricane Milton, at YCA Vacation Rental in Venice, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
