<a href="https://www.archysport.com/2024/10/live-video-of-hurricane-miltons-arrival-in-florida/" title="Live video of Hurricane Milton's arrival in Florida“>Hurricane Milton left a trail of destruction in Florida by setting off tornadoes and bringing torrential rain and violent winds that destroyed homes and knocked out power to millions of people in the US state.
At least 10 deaths have been reported, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Although the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Thursday that the storm, which made landfall on the state’s west coast hours earlier, had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane, it still crossed Florida with wind speeds of 150 km/h (93 miles per hour).
Milton made landfall at around 8.30pm (0030 GMT) on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 195 km/h (121 mph) near the affluent beach town of Siesta Key, which sits on a barrier island on the coast of Florida. Gulf Coast just south of Tampa Bay.
Despite running out of strength, the storm maintained hurricane strength as it crossed the entire Florida peninsula from west to east, emerging into the Atlantic Ocean Thursday morning near Cape Canaveral, home of the Kennedy Space Center, he said the NHC.
Several cranes collapsed in the city of St. Petersburg, located on the Tampa Bay peninsula. One fell into a building that houses the offices of the Tampa Bay Times, Florida’s largest newspaper, splitting the structure and leaving a large hole.
No injuries were reported.
A few streets away, the roof was torn off Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays major league baseball team. Debris from the roof lay strewn across the field that had been transformed into a camp for thousands of first responders.
The roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team, was ripped off by Hurricane Milton. pic.twitter.com/JdIomWdTnZ
— AccuWeather (@accuweather) October 10, 2024
Tampa officials warned citizens that traffic lights remain off throughout the city, which is home to about 400,000 residents.
The biggest fear was a storm in Tampa Bay. It appears to have been less than expected, but it is still too early to tell as damage assessment continues.
Less storm than Helene
The worst storm surge appears to have occurred in Sarasota County, where the height was 8 to 10 feet, lower than the worst location during Helene.
While damage is widespread and water levels could continue to rise for days, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said this is not a “worst-case scenario.”
The storm dropped up to 18 inches of rain in some parts of the area, causing flash flooding, the governor said.
“We will better understand the extent of the damage as the day progresses,” DeSantis said.
Deadly tornadoes
At least 19 tornadoes devastated southern Florida, hundreds of miles from the storm’s center, as it neared land.
At least four people were killed at a country club after tornadoes hit St Lucie County before Hurricane Milton made landfall.
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.
According to Poweroutage.us, which tracks electricity supply, more than 3 million people in Florida remained without power as of 3:58 a.m. (0758 GMT), with the state’s west coast hardest hit.
“Help is on the way”
US President Joe Biden issued a statement urging those affected by Milton to continue to shelter in place and avoid the streets.
“Help is on the way, but until it arrives, shelter in place until local officials say it is safe to go out,” the president said in a social media post.
To all those affected by Hurricane Milton: I urge you to stay on and off the roads.
Downed power lines, debris and road washouts are creating dangerous conditions.
Help is on the way, but until it arrives, shelter in place until local officials say it’s safe to go out.
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 10, 2024
Reporting from Orlando, Florida, Oltre La Linea’s Heidi Zhou-Castro said there were people who chose to ride out the storm and shelter in place.
In Plant City, on the outskirts of Tampa, he said most people appear to have been mostly spared. “There were near misses, with trees falling just centimeters from houses. There is standing water and minimal flooding,” he said.
But there is less information about some of the coastal communities where the storm made landfall, such as Siesta Key in Sarasota County.
According to state officials, rescue missions are underway with at least 50 people rescued. These rescues continue hour after hour, with 6,500 National Guard troops participating on site.
Beyond the Line senior weather presenter Everton Fox said Milton could be downgraded to a tropical storm by Thursday evening as it heads eastward into the Atlantic, adding that winds still posed a significant threat and flooding remained a major threat worries.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration credited the La Nina weather pattern and warmer-than-average water temperatures for an above-average Atlantic hurricane season. The overall number of hurricanes has already exceeded last year’s total.
Oliver Carpenter, director of Environmental Risk, Resilience, a spinout of the University of Cambridge’s Center for Risk Studies, told Beyond the Line that climate change is affecting hurricane activity in the North Atlantic.
“[It is] overloading them to be more destructive and increasing the risk of serious damage. Tropical cyclones occur naturally, but climate change is fueling warmer ocean and air temperatures, which are resulting in more intense, larger and longer-lasting storms,” he said.
While Milton is expected to cause the most damage in western Florida, the neighboring state of Georgia, which is recovering from last month’s Hurricane Helene, is also bracing for its impact.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp urged residents of the state’s coastal counties to prepare for falling trees, scattered power outages and potential flooding near the ocean.
US President Joe Biden has promised support for the affected regions. Speaking to reporters at the White House, he also condemned falsehoods spread about the federal emergency response regarding Milton and Helene as “un-American.”
“In recent weeks there has been reckless, irresponsible and relentless promotion of misinformation and outright lies about what is happening. It is undermining the confidence of the people of Florida,” Biden said. “It is harmful to those who need help most.”
Biden said claims were made that the property would be confiscated, a claim that was “simply not true.” Republican candidate Donald Trump, however, has reiterated this claim on the campaign trail as he seeks a second term as president.
