At least four dead from Hurricane Milton. Florida begins assessing damage from Category 3 storm that, in addition to four deaths, caused extensive property damage across the state and left more than 3.4 million homes and businesses without power .
Authorities said the victims were in a St. Lucie County senior community that was struck by a tornado formed by the hurricane. The tornado occurred before Milton made landfall near Sarasota, on Florida’s west coast, on Wednesday evening.
Parts of Sarasota, Fort Myers, Venice and other Gulf Coast cities were flooded by waves up to 10 feet high, while tornadoes destroyed buildings, including the sheriff’s department, and the sky turned purple and winds gusted up to 120 mph. turned cars, trees and debris into projectiles.
At a press conference Thursday morning, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that more than 40 rescues had taken place in several counties, that search and rescue operations were continuing and that “it is too early to find out how many people had died.”
The Tampa Police Department released video of officers rescuing several children from a home partially destroyed by a falling tree.
DeSantis, however, said forecasters’ worst fears of a storm surge of up to 15 feet in the densely populated cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg had not come true. The hardest-hit county, Sarasota, he said, had an 8- to 10-foot wall of water from the Gulf of Mexico.
“Luckily, it wasn’t the worst possible scenario. “The storm weakened before making landfall, and the storm surge was generally not as large as that seen during Hurricane Helene,” he said, referring to the storm in category 4 which hit Florida 12 days earlier, killing at least 232 people in six states. .
“We will better understand the extent of the damage as the day progresses,” the governor added.
Milton made landfall at Siesta Key, south of St. Petersburg, around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday – 2:30 a.m. Spanish Peninsula Time. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), eight hours later it moved out to sea, north of Cape Canaveral, as a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 140 kilometers per hour.
Although the core of Milton has entered the Atlantic, the NHC – National Hurricane Center, in its acronym in English – warned that significant risks remained.
“Heavy precipitation in central and northern Florida this morning continues to bring the risk of significant flash and urban flooding, as well as moderate to significant river flooding,” it said in an advisory Thursday Morning.
Florida citizens woke up this Thursday to scenes of devastation in several counties. A crane collapsed in downtown St. Petersburg, leaving a dent in an office building and blocking a street, cutting off the water supply and ripping the roof off a major league baseball stadium, Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays.
It will take days to assess the damage, but insurers have warned that losses could reach $60 billion. The tornadoes that accompanied the storm’s approach could prove as damaging as the hurricane itself: At least 116 tornado warnings were issued across Florida, DeSantis said Wednesday evening.
All four people who died in St. Lucie County were at the Spanish Lakes Country Club in Fort Pierce, WQCS reported. Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, said initial reports indicated about 125 homes were destroyed, most of them mobile homes located in senior living communities.
In Bradenton, north of Sarasota, the police chief said “probably” more than 60 percent of the city was without power. In Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, the sheriff’s office said there were “downed power lines and trees everywhere.”
According to poweroutage.us, more than 3.4 million homes and businesses in Florida were without power as of 10 a.m. Thursday (4 p.m. CEST).
But the high storm surge forecast by officials before Milton’s arrival may not have been as severe as expected. Communities north of Siesta Key were hit by heavy rain, expected to reach 18 inches, while areas to the south, including Fort Myers Beach and Naples, were hit by storm surge.
Some forecast models had predicted that Milton would hit Tampa Bay Inlet directly, creating a 15-foot storm surge, but the storm’s track weakened, sending it about 70 miles south to reach the beaches.
However, inland from Tampa, flooding in Plant City was “staggering,” according to city Mayor Bill McDaniel. Emergency crews rescued 35 people overnight, said McDaniel, who estimated the city received 13.5 inches of rain. “We’re having flooding in places and at levels I’ve never seen, and I’ve lived here my whole life,” he said Thursday morning.
Milton, which formed near Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula earlier in the week, reached Category 5 highs at times with winds of 300 mph as it crossed the Gulf toward Florida.
Before the storm hit, the state issued mandatory evacuation orders in 15 Florida counties, with a total population of about 7.2 million. Those who remained were warned that they would have to fend for themselves until the hurricane passed.
Among those who remained were 12 workers from the Tampa Zoo, located in the evacuation zone, where they ensured the orangutans had blankets; manatees, supplies of lettuce; and rhinoceroses, bamboo.
Florida now faces a massive cleanup. In Orlando, Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and Sea World remained closed Thursday. At the news conference, DeSantis said 9,000 National Guard members were ready to respond, along with 50,000 utility workers from as far away as California.
“Unfortunately, there will be deaths. I don’t think there’s any way around it,” DeSantis said.
