Hurricane Milton hits Florida, leaving millions dead and without power

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TAMPA, Fla. — Hurricane Milton barreled into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after barreling through Florida as a Category 3 storm, lashing cities with fierce winds and rain, spawning a wave of tornadoes and causing an unknown number of deaths. This added to Helene's suffering, sparing Tampa from a direct hit.

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The storm turned south in recent hours and made landfall Wednesday evening on Siesta Key, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Tampa. The situation in the Tampa area remained serious as St. Petersburg received more than 41 centimeters of rain, prompting the National Weather Service to warn of flash flooding there as well as other parts of west and central Florida.

As dawn broke Thursday, officials reiterated that the danger was not over: Storm surge was still a problem in many parts of Florida, and tropical storm warnings were in effect for much of the Central and Eastern Seaboard. Officials in hard-hit Hillsborough, Pinellas, Sarasota and Lee counties urged people to stay home, warning of downed power lines, trees in roads, blocked bridges and flooding.

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“We will let you know when it is safe to leave,” Sheriff Chad Chronister of Hillsborough County, where Tampa is located, said on Facebook.

According to poweroutage.us, which tracks media reports, the storm knocked out power across much of Florida, with more than 3.2 million homes and businesses left without power.

The fabric that serves as the roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team in St. Petersburg, was torn to shreds by a violent wind. It was not immediately clear whether there was any damage inside. The storm also toppled multiple cranes, according to the weather service.

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Residents of St. Petersburg also could no longer draw water from their home taps, as a water mains failure forced the city to shut off its supplies. Mayor Ken Welch told residents to expect long power outages and possible sewer system shutdowns.

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Inland from Tampa, the flooding in Plant City was “absolutely stunning,” according to City Manager Bill McDaniel. Emergency crews rescued 35 people overnight and estimated 34 cm of rain fell in the city, McDaniel said.

“In some places and to levels of flooding that I have never seen, and I have lived in this community all my life,” he said in a video posted online Thursday morning.

Before Milton made landfall, heavy rain and tornadoes hit parts of South Florida on Wednesday morning, with conditions worsening throughout the day. One of the twisters touched down in the sparsely populated Everglades and crossed Interstate 75. Another visible tornado hit Fort Myers, snapping tree limbs and tearing the canopy of a gas station to shreds.

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Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce on Florida's Atlantic coast was hit particularly hard, with homes destroyed and some residents killed.

“We lost some lives,” the St. County Sheriff told WPBF News. Lucie Keith Pearson, although he did not say how many people died.

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Before the hurricane made landfall, about 125 homes were destroyed, many of them mobile homes in senior communities, said Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

About 90 minutes after landfall, Milton was downgraded to a Category 2 storm. By early Thursday, the hurricane was a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of about 85 mph (135 kph) and was leaving the state near Cape Canaveral.

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The storm hit a region still shaking two weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded streets and homes in West Florida, killing at least 230 people in the South. In many places along the coast, city officials were rushing to collect and dispose of trash before Milton's winds and storm surges could scatter it and compound the damage.

The authorities issued dire warnings to flee or the chances of survival would be slim. By late afternoon, some officials said the time had passed for such an effort, suggesting that people left behind should take cover instead.

Jackie Curnick said she struggled with the decision to stay home in Sarasota, north of where the storm made landfall. She and her husband started packing on Monday to evacuate, but they had difficulty finding available hotel rooms, and the few they did get were too expensive.

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Curnick said with the birth of a 2-year-old son and daughter on Oct. 29, there are too many unanswered questions if they get in the car and leave: where to sleep, whether they will be able to get gas and whether they will even be able to find a safe route out of state.

Video footage taken during the storm shows howling winds and raindrops hitting the glass-enclosed swimming pool as their son and dog look on. The trees shook violently.

“The thing is, it's very difficult to evacuate on the peninsula,” she said before the storm. “In most other states, you can go in any direction to get out. There are only so many roads in Florida that go north or south.

At a news conference in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis described the deployment of a wide range of resources, including 9,000 National Guard members from Florida and other states; over 50,000 utility workers from as far as California; and highway patrol cars with sirens that escort gasoline tankers to refill supplies so people can fill up their tanks before evacuating.

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“Unfortunately, there will be fatalities. “I don't think it can be helped,” DeSantis said.

Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders in 15 Florida counties with a total population of about 7.2 million people. In Orlando, Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and Sea World remained closed Thursday.

According to GasBuddy, more than 60% of gas stations in Tampa and St. Petersburg were out of gas Wednesday evening, although DeSantis said the state's overall supply was OK.

Officials warned that anyone left behind would have to fend for themselves as first responders were not expected to risk their lives trying to save themselves at the height of the storm.

The port of Charlotte, about 100 miles south of Tampa, saw swirling clouds and gusty winds Wednesday as Josh Parks packed clothes and other belongings into his Kia sedan. Two weeks ago, high water in Helene brought about 1.5 meters of water to the area, and the streets are still filled with soaked furniture, torn drywall and other debris.

Parks, an automotive technician, planned to escape to his daughter's house inland and said his roommate had already left.

“I told her to pack like you're not coming back,” he said.

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