Hurricane Milton barreled into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after sweeping through Florida as a Category 3 storm, pounding cities with fierce winds and rain, unleashing a tornado barrage and causing unknown death tolls. It compounded the misery caused by Helen while Tampa avoided a direct hit.
The storm headed south in the final hours and made landfall Wednesday evening in Siesta Key, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Tampa. The situation in the Tampa area remains a major emergency as St. Petersburg recorded more than 16 inches (41 cm) of rain, prompting the National Weather Service to warn of flash flooding there as well as in other parts of west and central Florida.
As Thursday dawned, officials reiterated that the danger was far from over: Storm surge remained a concern in many parts of Florida, and tropical storm warnings were issued for much of the central East Coast. Officials in hard-hit Hillsboro, Pinellas, Sarasota and Lee counties urged people to stay home, warning of downed power lines and trees on roads, blocked bridges and flooding.
“We will let you know when it is safe to go out,” Sheriff Chad Chronister of Hillsborough County, home to Tampa, said on Facebook.
The storm caused power outages in much of Florida, with more than 3.2 million homes and businesses without power, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.
High winds tore the fabric used as the roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team in St. Petersburg. It was not immediately clear if there was damage inside. Several cranes also fell in the storm, the weather service said.
St. Petersburg residents can also no longer get water from their home taps because a water main break led to the city shutting down service. Mayor Ken Welsh asked residents to expect prolonged power outages and possible sewer system shutdowns.
Straight from Tampa, the flooding in Plant City was “absolutely astonishing,” according to City Manager Bill McDaniel. McDaniel said emergency teams rescued 35 people overnight, and he estimated that the city received 34 centimeters of rain.
“We have flooding in places and at levels I’ve never seen before, and I’ve lived in this community my whole life,” he said in a video posted online Thursday morning.
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Before Milton made landfall, heavy rain and tornadoes hit parts of South Florida on Wednesday morning, with conditions deteriorating throughout the day. One tornado struck the sparsely populated Everglades and crossed Interstate 75. Another apparent tornado struck Fort Myers, snapping off tree limbs and ripping a gas station awning to shreds.
Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce, on Florida’s Atlantic coast, was hit hard, with homes destroyed and some residents killed.
“We lost some lives,” St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson told WPBF News, though he did not say how many people were killed.
Debris covers the ground near a crane that fell onto a building along 1st Avenue South in St. Petersburg, Florida, as Hurricane Milton’s strong winds swept through the area on Thursday, October 10, 2024.
Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times via AP
About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane came ashore, many of which were mobile homes in senior living communities, said Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
About 90 minutes after the hurricane made 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 had left the state near Cape Canaveral.
The storm hit an area still reeling two weeks after Hurricane Helen, which flooded streets and homes in western Florida and left at least 230 dead across the South. In many places along the coast, municipalities are racing to collect and dispose of debris before Milton’s winds and storm surge can move it and compound any damage.
Officials issued severe warnings to flee or face the odds of survival. By late afternoon, some officials said it was too late for such efforts, suggesting that people remaining behind were hiding instead.
Jackie Cornick said she wrestled with her decision to stay at her home in Sarasota, north of where the storm made landfall. She and her husband started packing Monday to evacuate, but they struggled to find available hotel rooms, and the few they did come up with were expensive.
With a 2-year-old son and a baby girl due Oct. 29, Cornick said there were a lot of unanswered questions if they got in the car and left: Where would they sleep, whether they could fill up the gas tank? And if they can even find a safe way out of the state.
Video taken during the storm showed strong winds and rain falling on the glass-covered pool as their son and dog watched. 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. In Florida, there are very few roads that take you 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; more than 50,000 utility workers from as far away as California; And highway patrol cars with sirens to accompany gasoline tankers to replenish supplies so people can fill their tanks before evacuating.
“Unfortunately, there will be fatalities. I don’t think there’s any way around that,” DeSantis said.
Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders in 15 counties in Florida, with a total population of about 7.2 million people. In Orlando, Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld remained closed Thursday.
More than 60% of gas stations in Tampa and St. Petersburg were out of gas Wednesday night, according to GasBuddy, though DeSantis said the state’s overall supply was good.
Officials warned that anyone staying behind should fend for themselves, because first responders were not expected to risk their lives in a rescue attempt at the height of the storm.
In Charlotte Harbor, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Tampa, clouds spread and winds blew as Josh Parks packed his Kia sedan with clothes and other possessions on Wednesday. Two weeks ago, Hurricane Helen’s surge brought about 5 feet (1.5 meters) of water to the neighborhood, and its streets are still littered with waterlogged furniture, torn drywall and other debris.
Parks, an auto technician, planned to flee to his daughter’s home inland and said his roommate had already left.
“I told her to pack your things like you’re not coming back,” he said.
Associated Press journalists Holly Ramer in New Hampshire; Joseph Frederick in West Bradenton, Florida; Curt Anderson in Tampa; Frieda Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale; Brenden Farrington in Tallahassee; Michael Goldberg in Minneapolis; Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine; Jeff Martin in Atlanta and Christopher L. Keller is from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
