More than 2 million without power as Hurricane Milton slams Florida, causes deaths and flooding
TAMPA, Fla. — TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Milton plowed into Florida on Wednesday as a Category 3 storm, bringing misery to a coast still ravaged by Helene, and battering towns with winds of more than 100 miles per hour after producing a barrage of tornadoesbut spared Tampa a direct hit.
The storm moved south in the final hours and made landfall in Siesta Key near Sarasota, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Tampa. The situation in the Tampa area was still a major emergency as St. Petersburg recorded more than 41 inches of rain, prompting the National Weather Service to warn of flash flooding there, as well as in other parts of West and Central Florida .
Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, appeared to be heavily damaged. The fabric that serves as the roof of the domed building was torn to shreds. It was not immediately clear if there was any damage to the stadium. Several cranes also toppled during the storm, according to the weather service.
Residents of St. Petersburg were also unable to get water from their household taps as a water main break forced the city to shut off the water supply.
According to figures, more than two million homes and businesses in Florida were without power poweroutage.usthat maintains utility reports. The highest number of outages occurred in Hardee County, as well as neighboring Sarasota and Manatee counties.
Before Milton even made landfall, tornadoes touched down across the state. Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce, on Florida’s Atlantic coast, was particularly hard hit, destroying homes and killing some residents.
“We lost some lives,” St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson said WPBF Newsalthough he would not say how many people were killed.
About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane made landfall, many of them mobile homes in senior living communities, said Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
About 90 minutes after making landfall, Milton was downgraded to a Category 2 storm. Early Thursday, the hurricane was a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of about 90 miles per hour as it passed about 40 miles southwest of Orlando raged.
Heavy rain is also likely to hit inland rivers and lakes as Milton crosses the Florida peninsula as a hurricane, eventually breaking out into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday. This is expected to impact the densely populated Orlando area.
The storm swept over a region still reeling two weeks later Hurricane Helene flooded streets and homes in western Florida and killed at least 230 people in the south. In many places along the coast, municipalities rushed to collect and remove debris before Milton’s winds and storm surge could blow it around and cause any damage.
Officials had issued dire warnings to flee or face grim odds of survival.
“This is it, folks,” said Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, which sits on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay. “Those of you who took a hit during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.”
By late afternoon, some officials said the time for such efforts had passed, indicating that people who remained were withdrawing instead. By the evening, some provinces announced they had suspended emergency services.
Jackie Curnick said she struggled with her decision to stay home in Sarasota, just north of where the storm made landfall. But with a two-year-old son and a baby daughter due Oct. 29, Curnick and her husband thought it was for the best.
Curnick said they started packing to evacuate on Monday, but they couldn’t find any available hotel rooms, and the few they found were too expensive.
She said there were too many unanswered questions when they got into the car and left: where to sleep, whether they could fill up their gas tank and whether they could even find a safe route out of the state.
“The thing is, it’s so hard to evacuate on a peninsula,” she said. “In most other states you can go either way to get out. In Florida, there are only so many 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 utilities as far away as California; and highway patrol cars with sirens to escort gasoline tankers to replenish supplies so people could fill their tanks before evacuating.
“Unfortunately there will be fatalities. I don’t think there’s a solution to that,” DeSantis said.
Heavy rain and tornadoes pummeled parts of South Florida beginning Wednesday morning, with conditions worsening over the course of the day. Inland, rainfall of 6 to 12 inches (15 to 31 centimeters) was expected, with as much as 16 inches (46 centimeters) in some places, raising the risk catastrophic flooding.
One tornado touched down in the sparsely populated Everglades on Wednesday morning and crossed Interstate 75. Another apparent tornado touched down in Fort Myers, snapping tree branches and ripping the canopy of a gas station to shreds.
Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders in 15 Florida counties, with a total population of about 7.2 million people. Officials warned that anyone left behind should fend for themselves because first responders were not expected to risk their lives in rescue efforts at the height of the storm.
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch told residents to expect extended power outages and the possible closure of the sewer system.
In Charlotte Harbor, about 100 miles south of Tampa, clouds swirled and winds blew as Josh Parks packed his Kia sedan with clothes and other belongings. Two weeks ago, Helene’s wave brought about 5 feet of water to the neighborhood, and the streets are still filled with waterlogged furniture, torn drywall and other debris.
Parks, an automotive technician, planned to flee inland to his daughter’s home and said his roommate had already left.
“I told her to pack like you’re not coming back,” he said.
By early afternoon, airlines had canceled about 1,900 flights. SeaWorld was closed all day Wednesday, and Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando closed in the afternoon.
According to GasBuddy, more than 60% of gas stations in Tampa and St. Petersburg were out of gas Wednesday afternoon. DeSantis said the state’s total supply was fine, and highway patrol officers were escorting tanker trucks to replenish supplies.
In the Gulfport area of the Tampa Bay area, Christian Burke and his mother stayed in their three-story concrete home overlooking the bay. Burke said his father designed this house with a Category 5 in mind – and now they’re going to test it.
As a passing police vehicle encouraged evacuations, Burke acknowledged that staying was not a good idea and said he was “not laughing at this storm.”
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Contributing to this report were Associated Press journalists Holly Ramer in New Hampshire; Joseph Frederick in West Bradenton, Florida; Curt Anderson in Tampa; Freida 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 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.