At least five people died after Hurricane Milton hit the US state of Florida, said state Governor Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis did not provide further details on the death toll, but earlier officials in St. Lucie County on the East Coast confirmed that four people had died in the area, which they believed were the result of at least two tornadoes that struck before Milton itself arrived late. Wednesday.
The storm caused widespread damage and destruction across the state, and more than three million homes and businesses were left without power.
Some areas on the West Coast received 45 cm of rain, and DeSantis said flooding was possible in the coming days.
Still, what Florida experienced “wasn't the worst-case scenario,” DeSantis said. He added that about 80,000 people spent the night in shelters.
“As of this morning … I know that the state has engaged in definitely dozens of rescue operations,” he said during a briefing Thursday.
He said reports of other fatalities have not been confirmed, but the death toll could rise as the storm's effects become more pronounced.
“We have no confirmed reports of other fatalities in the rest of the state, but we may do so as the day progresses. “I feel like a lot of people who were in the evacuation zones actually left the area,” he said.
Even before the hurricane's arrival, warnings were issued that the Tampa Bay area on the west coast could experience record storm surges of approximately 3-4.5 m (10-15 ft).
During her briefing Thursday morning, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor expressed relief that her city did not experience the storm surge that had been feared.
In other parts of the state, tides were still several feet high, meaning hurricane winds pushed a wall of seawater ashore.
Castor said the situation in her densely populated city “is not over.” “When the high tide comes in, the rivers will flood all of Hillsborough County, not just the city of Tampa,” Jane Castor said.
Castor and other officials spent days urging people on Milton Road to leave their homes or risk being killed. Evacuations were ordered up and down the west coast as forecasters said some areas were experiencing once-in-1,000-year rainfall.
Milton finally made landfall as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday evening local time, carrying winds of 120 mph. Early in its life, it was repeatedly classified as a Category 5 hurricane, which means the most powerful type of storm.
Strong winds hit a crane into a newspaper building in St. Petersburg and ripped off the roof of a Major League Baseball stadium.
Milton was preceded by several tornadoes, which can sometimes be accompanied by a hurricane.
Twelve of them made their way through St. Lucie County, a CBS affiliate news station reported. “It's unlike anything we've seen,” the sheriff said.
Four deaths in the county, including at least one in the hamlet of Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce.
Local media in St. Petersburg and Polk County reported several additional deaths, and one person died as a result of a car crash caused by the hurricane.
In the west of the state, water supplies were cut off in coastal St. Petersburg after officials were forced to shut down the system due to hurricane damage.
Officials say the outage is expected to last “until necessary repairs are completed,” and that can only be done when crews can safely be outside.
Elsewhere in the city, part of the roof of the Tampa Bay Rays' Major League Baseball stadium was torn off.
Meanwhile, a crane hit the Tampa Bay Times newspaper building, but the publication itself said no one was inside at the time.
In Tampa alone, police said they rescued 15 people – including several children – from a local home after a tree hit it.
One of the people waiting for power to be restored was Chynna Perkins, who told the BBC she decided not to evacuate, partly out of fear that she and her husband would not find suitable accommodation for their two large dogs.
She said that when the storm hit, her anxiety “went through the roof,” but they managed to get through it.
In addition to the 3.4 million people without power grid in Florida, thousands more in Georgia and nearby North Carolina experienced the storm's outer edges.
Milton's arrival comes two weeks after the southeastern United States was hit by Hurricane Helene, leaving more than 200 people dead and many more missing. Clean-up activities are ongoing.
Hurricane Milton is currently heading east into the Atlantic, north of the Bahamas.
