Hurricane Milton wrought havoc across Florida, where it whipped up tornadoescut power for more than 3.3 million energy customers, put some 11 million people at risk of flooding and caused at least nine deaths.
Milton was moving into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday morning after making landfall the previous evening as a Category 3 storm in Siesta Key, roughly 70 miles south of Tampa.
At least four deaths have been confirmed in St. Lucie County on the state’s Atlantic coast, where tornadoes touched down. At least two people were killed in St. Petersburg during the storm, police said. At least three people died in Volusia County, according to the sheriff.
Photos and videos showed homes submerged in murky floodwaters, residents attempting to evacuate on small boats, roads shredded to pieces and debris scattered in all directions.
The storm’s winds were particularly intense in Venice Beach in Sarasota County, where they reached a high of 107 mph. St. Petersburg recorded a staggering 18.31 inches of rainfall, meeting the threshold for a 1-in-1,000-year rainfall event.
Tampa residents woke up to widespread damage. Milton topped a construction crane on a downtown building and ripped the roof off Tropicana Fieldwhich was going to be used to house emergency workers — a plan that was called off before the storm arrived. The city’s mayor told reporters that no serious injuries or deaths have been reported there in the wake of the storm.
The storm surge was not as monstrous as expected, Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters at a briefing Thursday morning.
“The storm was significant, but thankfully, this was not the worst-case scenario,” DeSantis said. “The storm did weaken before landfall and the storm surge, as initially reported, has not been as significant overall as what was observed for Hurricane Helene.”
More than 80,000 people hunkered down in shelters overnight. Search and rescue teams worked overnight to save families and pets, DeSantis told reporters. At least 48 people had been rescued as of 6:30 am ET, he said.
President Joe Biden said he pre-deployed thousands of federal personnel to areas hammered by the storm, including more than 1,000 members of the Coast Guard.
“Help is on the way,” Biden said in a post on X. He said downed power lines, debris and road washouts were creating hazardous conditions. “Shelter in place until your local officials say it’s safe to go out,” he said.
More than 3,000 flights have been canceled and delayed as the storm shuttered airports.
Milton remained a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 85 mph as of 8 am ET, according to the National Weather Service. It was located 75 miles east-northeast of Cape Canaveral and moving east-northeast at 18 mph.
The storm is expected to weaken “rapidly” as it barrels away from the US coast, the weather service added.
Milton made landfall just 13 days after Helene devastated the Southeast, breaking the record for the shortest amount of time between two major hurricanes in Florida. Helene has been blamed for at least 243 deaths in the region, including 25 in the Sunshine State.
Helene also caused fatalities in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Kathryn Prociv contributed.
