Milton departs Florida leaving devastation in its wake

As dawn breaks in Florida, millions of people impacted by Hurricane Milton are waking up to find a changed landscape.

Several people have died as a result of the storm. Keith Pearson of the St. Lucie County Sheriff told CNN that a flurry of tornadoes led to the deaths of several elderly residents of a mobile home park.

Flash flooding is happening on the Interstate 4 corridor from St. Petersburg to Daytona Beach.

Thousands are without power, and significant damage is being seen as the sun begins to rise.

Pierce County official: Milton prompts largest deployment of urban search and rescue specialists since 9/11

A building crane fell in St. Petersburg and the roof of Tropicana Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Rays, was partically ripped off.

Early Thursday morning was far too early for damage assessments or injury totals, but its clear that this was the biggest storm the area has seen in many years.

Milton plowed into Florida as a Category 3 storm Wednesday, bringing misery to a coast still ravaged by Helene, pounding cities with winds of over 100 mph after producing a barrage of tornadoes, but sparing Tampa a direct hit.

The storm tracked to the south in the final hours and made landfall in Siesta Key near Sarasota, about 70 miles south of Tampa. The situation in the Tampa area was still a major emergency as St. Petersburg recorded over 16 inches of rain, prompting the National Weather Service to warn of flash flooding.

More than 2 million homes and businesses were without power in Florida, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports. The highest number of outages were in Hardee County, as well as neighboring Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Before Milton even made landfall, tornadoes were touching down across the state. The Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce, on Florida’s Atlantic Coast, was hit particularly hard, with homes destroyed and some residents killed.

About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane came ashore, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens, said Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

About 90 minutes after making landfall, Milton was downgraded to a Category 2 storm. By late Wednesday, the hurricane had maximum sustained winds of about 105 mph (165 kph) and storm surge warnings were in effect for parts of Florida’s Gulf and Atlantic coastlines.

Heavy rains were also likely to cause flooding inland along rivers and lakes as Milton traverses the Florida Peninsula as a hurricane, eventually to emerge in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday. It is expected to impact the heavily populated Orlando area.

The storm slammed into a region still reeling two weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded streets and homes in western Florida and left at least 230 people dead across the South. In many places along the coast, municipalities raced to collect and dispose of debris before Milton’s winds and storm surge could toss it around and compound 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 were punched 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 had passed for such efforts, suggesting that people who stayed behind hunker down instead. By the evening, some counties announced they had suspended emergency services.

Jackie Curnick said she wrestled with her decision to stay at home in Sarasota, just north of where the storm made landfall. But with a 2-year-old son and a baby girl due Oct. 29, Curnick and her husband thought it was for the best.

Curnick said they started packing Monday to evacuate, but they couldn’t find any available hotel rooms, and the few they came by were too expensive.

She said there were too many unanswered questions if they got in the car and left: Where to sleep, if they’d be able to fill up their gas tank, and if they could even find a safe route out of the state.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Bill Kaczaraba is a Content Editor for MyNorthwest