FLORIDA (AP) – Hurricane Milton brought powerful winds, a dangerous storm surge and flooding to much of Florida after making landfall along the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm. It weakened to a Category 1 storm as it moved through Florida early Thursday. Power outages were widespread and deaths have been reported from severe weather.
The cyclone had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (205 kph) when it roared ashore in Siesta Key, south of the populated Tampa Bay region, the National Hurricane Center said. High winds, heavy rain and flooding hit areas including densely populated Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
Here’s the latest:
Tornadoes ahead of Hurricane Milton killed 4 people, St. Lucie County says
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Tornadoes ahead of Hurricane Milton killed four people, St. Lucie County officials said.
Before Milton even made landfall, heavy rain and tornadoes lashed parts of southern Florida Wednesday morning. The Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce, on Florida’s Atlantic Coast, was hit particularly hard, with homes destroyed and some residents killed.
Four people were killed in tornadoes there, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane came ashore, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens, said Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
Significant damage from Milton is reported in west-central Florida
PLANT CITY, Fla. — There was significant damage in west-central Florida, including in the community of Plant City, an official said.
“One of the most profound things I’m seeing is the flooding. We have flooding in places and to levels that I’ve never seen, and I’ve lived in this community for my entire life,” City Manager Bill McDaniel said in a video posted online Thursday morning. “It’s absolutely staggering, what we’re seeing out there. Last night, members of our police and fire department performed rescues of 35 individuals from flooded structures here.”
Plant City has about 40,000 people. McDaniel added, “The police and the fire departments have their hands full. we’re bringing out crews to clean up the tree debris and get our roadways clear.”
Rescue teams are out in full force in the South Daytona area
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Hurricane Milton brought flooding to Florida’s Atlantic Coast early Thursday.
In Volusia County, where Daytona Beach is located, high water rescue teams were out in full force in the South Daytona area, sheriff’s officials said.
Tampa officers rescue 15 people from a home damaged by a falling tree
TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa police officers rescued 15 people from a one-story home that was damaged when a tree fell as Hurricane Milton was passing through.
“The swift actions taken by these officers during a break in the storm bands provided this family with a sense of safety in a time of fear and uncertainty,” Tampa police Chief Lee Bercaw said.
The residents were taken to a nearby shelter as bands from the hurricane were still passing through Tampa. No one was injured.
Many roads in Fort Myers area are under water or blocked by fallen trees
FORT MYERS, Fla. — In Lee County, where Fort Myers is located, the local sheriff’s office noted that many roads were either under water or blocked by fallen trees, downed power lines or other debris.
Some areas in Lee County had 3 feet (0.9 meters) of water covering roads.
A draw bridge just east of Matlacha, where about 600 people live on a barrier island, is partially blocked by a house, sheriff’s officials said. The Matlacha area was also devastated by Hurricane Ian in 2022.
Rescue teams move people to safety in the Tampa area and work to reopen roadways
TAMPA, Fla. — The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has started rescue operations in at least one neighborhood.
“Our teams are on the ground, moving people to safety,” the sheriff’s office said on Facebook.
Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a post that crews have been responding to calls since early Thursday.
“Our cut teams are out cutting trees, trying to open up some of the roadways. There are downed powerlines and trees everywhere. Please stay indoors. We’ll let you know when it’s safe to come out,” he said.
Officials in hard-hit Pinellas County, where St. Petersburg is located, also are urging residents to stay where they are.
Travel is dangerous after Milton moves through, sheriff’s office warns
SARASOTA, Fla. — In Sarasota County, “first-in” emergency crews were reporting downed power lines and trees in roadways, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post early Thursday.
Some bridges in the county were not passable after Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, a barrier island off Sarasota. The sheriff’s office urged residents and business owners to stay off the roads to allow emergency and utility crews time to work.
“The storm may have passed but it is still dangerous to be traveling this morning,” the sheriff’s office said.
Milton moving off the east coast of Florida
The center of Hurricane Milton was moving off the east coast of Florida early Thursday with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour (137 kph), the National Hurricane Center said. Milton was expected to continue to move away from the peninsula and to the north of the Bahamas.
As the storm barreled northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, all hurricane and tropical storm warnings were discontinued for the state’s west coast.
Storm surge warnings remained in effect for parts of the Florida west coast, and along the state’s east coast to Altamaha Sound, Georgia. Hurricane and tropical storm warnings were also in effect for much of the state’s east-central coast.
At least 3 million customers without power due to Milton
Hurricane Milton’s tear of destruction across central Florida left more than 3 million homes and businesses without power around 4 a.m. EDT Thursday, according to PowerOutages.us.
Energy companies serve more than 11.5 million customer accounts across the state, according to the website.
Milton’s high winds and intense rains continued into Thursday morning. Florida’s central Gulf Coast was hardest hit by the outages, including Hardee, Sarasota, Hillsborough and Manatee counties.
Milton weakens slightly as flash flood emergency statement is issued in west-central Florida
MIAMI — The hurricane had maximum sustained winds of about 100 mph (160 kph) as it hovered near Fort Meade, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of Tampa, early Thursday morning, the National Weather Service said.
The hurricane was expected to continue traveling mostly eastward until it enters the Atlantic Ocean sometime late Thursday, the weather service said.
The damaging winds were accompanied by heavy rainfall, and the weather service issued a flash flood emergency statement for portions of west-central Florida. Flash flood emergency statements generally mean life-threatening catastrophic water rising events are already underway or expected to occur in the immediate future.
St. Petersburg officials warned residents that a broken water main forced the city to temporarily shut off its drinking water service at midnight. The city said residents should boil any water used for drinking, cooking or brushing teeth until the system is restored.
Multiple collapsed cranes reported in St. Petersburg
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The National Weather Service says it has received reports of multiple collapsed cranes due to high winds in St. Petersburg, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Siesta Key, where Milton made landfall.
St. Petersburg Fire Rescue confirmed one collapse late Wednesday about six blocks from the city’s pier. There were no reports of injuries.
The crane was at the site of a 515-foot-tall (157-meter-tall) luxury high-rise building under construction that is being billed as one of the tallest buildings on the west coast of Florida. It was scheduled to be completed in summer 2025.
More than 2 million Florida residents are without power
Over 2 million customers lost power as Hurricane Milton cut a path through central Florida late Wednesday, according to the website PowerOutages.us.
Energy companies serve more than 11.5 million customer accounts statewide, according to the website. The number of people left without electricity continued to grow as hurricane-spawned tornadoes, sustained tropical winds and flooding inundated the region.
Nearly 100% of customers in Hardee County were without power, and people in Sarasota, Manatee and Pinella counties were also hit hard by outages.
Milton shreds Tropicana Field’s roof
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays, appeared to be badly damaged Wednesday night. Television images showed that the fabric that serves as the domed building’s roof had been ripped to shreds. It was not immediately clear if there was damage inside the stadium.
The Rays’ stadium was not being used as a shelter, but the Tampa Bay Times reported that it was being used as “a staging site for workers” who were brought to the area to deal with the storm’s aftermath.
The stadium opened in 1990 and initially cost $138 million. It was due to be replaced in time for the 2028 season with a $1.3 billion ballpark.
Search and rescue efforts underway in Florida, officials say
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Officials say search and rescue efforts are underway in Florida after dangerous tornadoes ripped through the region.
About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane made landfall, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens, said Kevin Guthrie, the director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management.
St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson posted a video to Facebook showing a 10,000 square-foot (930 square-meters) iron building that had been twisted into a crumpled heap by a tornado. The structure was where the sheriff’s office kept its patrol cars, but luckily no one was inside when it fell, Pearson said.
Hurricane Milton spawns multiple tornadoes
MIAMI — Multiple tornadoes spawned by the hurricane tore across Florida, the twisters acting as a dangerous harbingers of Milton’s approach.
Three Florida offices of the National Weather Service in Miami, Tampa and Melbourne issued more than 130 tornado warnings associated with Hurricane Milton by Wednesday evening.
Videos posted to Reddit and other social media sites showed large funnel clouds over neighborhoods in Palm Beach County and elsewhere in the state.
Luke Culver, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami, said he wasn’t sure whether Milton had spawned a record number of tornadoes, but he pointed out that only 64 Florida tornado warnings were associated with Hurricane Ian, which hit the Tampa Bay area as a massive storm in 2022.
Tornadoes produced by hurricanes and tropical storms most often occur in the right-front quadrant of the storm, but sometimes they can also take place near the storm’s eyewall, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The heat and humidity present in the atmosphere during such storms and changes in wind direction or speed with height, known as wind shear, contribute to their likelihood.
Pasco County suspends emergency services due to hazardous conditions
PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Pasco County on Florida’s west coast north of Tampa has joined other counties in suspending all emergency services in response to Hurricane Milton’s impact, according to an alert sent at 7:46 p.m.
“We’re constantly monitoring weather conditions and emergency crews will respond as soon as it is safe to do so. Now is the time to remain sheltered where you are,” the alert said.
What has made Hurricane Milton so fierce and unusual?
With its mighty strength and its dangerous path, Hurricane Milton powered into a very rare threat flirting with experts’ worst fears.
Warm water fueled amazingly rapid intensification that took Milton from a minimal hurricane to a massive Category 5 in less than 10 hours. It weakened, but quickly bounced back. And when its winds briefly reached 180 mph, its barometric pressure, a key measurement for a storm’s overall strength, was among the lowest ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico this late in the year.
At its most fierce, Milton almost maxed out its potential intensity given the weather factors surrounding it.
“Everything that you would want if you’re looking for a storm to go absolutely berserk is what Milton had,” Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach said.
Milton also grew so potent because it managed to avoid high-level cross winds that often decapitate storms, especially in autumn. As Milton neared Florida it hit those winds, called shear, which ate away at its strength, as meteorologists had forecasted.
Biden blasts Trump for spreading ‘onslaught of lies’ about the Helene response
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Wednesday blasted his predecessor for spreading an “onslaught of lies” about how the federal government is handling the damage from Hurricane Helene as Hurricane Milton was near making landfall in Florida.
“Quite frankly, these lies are un-American,” Biden said from the White House. “Former President Trump has led this onslaught of lies.”
Biden said that Trump and his allies have misrepresented the response and resources of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The president singled out Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, saying she claimed the federal government could control the weather.
Asked why he believed his Republican opponents were not talking accurately about the government’s response, Biden said, “I don’t know.”
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