The hurricane Milton plowed into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after crossing Florida, sweeping cities with fierce winds and rain and sparking a barrage of tornadoes. It caused the death of at least four people and increased the suffering caused by Helenewhile sparing Tampa a direct hit.
The storm moved south over the past few hours after making landfall as a Category 3 storm Wednesday evening in Siesta Key, about 70 miles south of Tampa. Petersburg recorded more than 16 inches of rain, prompting the National Weather Service to warn of flash flooding there and other parts of west and central Florida.
As Thursday dawned, officials reiterated that the danger was not over: Storm surge remains a concern in many parts of Florida and tropical storm warnings are in place for much of the east-central coast. Authorities in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Sarasota and Lee counties, hard-hit by the storm, urged residents to stay home, warning of downed power lines, trees on roads, blocked bridges and flooding .
“We will let you know when it is safe to come out,” Sheriff Chad Chronister of Hillsborough County, where Tampa is located, said on Facebook.
Although the deadly storm surge feared for Tampa did not appear to have materialized, the city was inundated by the rain. Farther south, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office reported localized flooding and storm surge, and Lorraine Anderson, public information officer for Venice Beach, said on CNN that the area experienced storm surge estimated between 1.8 and 2 meters, well below the feared five meters.
The storm caused power outages across much of Florida, with more than 3.2 million homes and businesses without power, according to the website poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.
The canvas that serves as the roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team in St. Petersburg, was torn by high winds. It is not yet known whether the interior was damaged. Several cranes were also toppled by the storm, according to the weather service.
Residents of St. Petersburg could no longer get water from the tap as a broken water main led the city to shut off service. Mayor Ken Welch had told residents to expect extended power outages and a possible sewer system shutdown.
Inland from Tampa, flooding in Plant City was “absolutely stunning,” according to City Manager Bill McDaniel. Emergency crews rescued 35 people overnight, said McDaniel, who estimated the city received 34 centimeters of rain.
“We’re having flooding in places and at levels I’ve never seen, and I’ve lived in this community my whole life,” he said in a video posted online Thursday morning.
Even before Milton makes landfall, heavy rain and tornadoes touched down in parts of South Florida Wednesday morning, and conditions deteriorated throughout the day. A tornado touched down in the sparsely populated Everglades and crossed Interstate 75. Another apparent tornado struck Fort Myers, tearing branches from trees and smashing the awning of a gas station to smithereens. service.
The Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce on Florida’s Atlantic coast was particularly hard hit, with homes destroyed and residents killed.
According to the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, four people were killed by tornadoes.
About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane made landfall, including many mobile homes in senior living communities, said Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management.
About 90 minutes after making landfall, Milton was downgraded to a Category 2 storm. By early Thursday, the hurricane had become a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of about 85 miles per hour and was leaving the state near Cape Canaveral.
The storm hit a region still in shock two weeks after the hurricane Helene flooded streets and homes in West Florida and left at least 230 dead across the South. In many places along the coast, municipalities scrambled to pick up and dispose of debris before Milton’s winds and storm surges tossed it around and worsened the damage.
The authorities had issued calls for them to flee, otherwise their chances of survival would diminish. By late afternoon, some officials said it was no longer time for such efforts and suggested those left behind should hunker down.
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, more than 50,000 utility workers who came from as far away as California, and highway patrol cars equipped with sirens to escort gasoline trucks to resupply people and allow them to refuel before evacuating.
“Unfortunately, there will be deaths. I don’t think we can escape it,” lamented Mr. DeSantis.
Authorities have issued mandatory evacuation orders in 15 Florida counties, with a combined population of about 7.2 million people. In Orlando, Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and Sea World remained closed Thursday.
More than 60 percent of gas stations in Tampa and St. Petersburg were out of gas Wednesday evening, according to GasBuddy, but DeSantis said the state’s overall supply was satisfactory.