Hurricane Milton has left a trail of destruction in Florida as it whipped up tornadoes and brought torrential rains and raging winds that destroyed homes and knocked out power for millions of people in the US state.
At least 10 deaths were reported, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
While the National Hurricane Center said that the storm, which made landfall on the state’s western coast hours earlier, had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane, it still sawed through Florida with wind speeds of 150km/h (93mph).
Despite running out of steam, the storm maintained hurricane strength as it crossed the entire Florida peninsula from west to east, emerging into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday morning near Cape Canaveral, home of the Kennedy Space Center, the NHC said.
Several cranes collapsed in the city of St Petersburg, located on the Tampa Bay peninsula.
One fell into an office building that hosts the offices of the Tampa Bay Times, Florida’s largest newspaper, splitting into the structure and leaving a major hole.
A few streets away, the roof was torn off Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays major league baseball team. Roof debris lay scattered over the field which had been transformed into a camp for thousands of first responders.
Tampa officials warned the public that traffic lights remain out across the city, home to about 400,000 residents.
The greatest fear had been a storm surge in Tampa Bay. That seems to have been lower than what was predicted, but it’s still too early to tell as the damage assessment continues.
The worst storm surge appeared to be in Sarasota County, where it was 8 to 10 feet (2.5 to 3 meters) — lower than in the worst place during Helene.
The storm dumped up to 45cm (18 inches) of rain in some parts of the area, causing flash flooding, the governor said.
At least 19 tornadoes ripped across the southern part of Florida, hundreds of miles from the centre of the storm, as it neared land.
At least four people were killed at a country club after tornadoes hit St Lucie County in advance of Hurricane Milton making landfall.
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.
More than 3 million people in Florida were left without power, according to Poweroutage.us, which tracks power supply, with the state’s west coast worst affected.
There have been rescue missions ongoing, with at least 50 people rescued, according to state officials. Those rescues are continuing by the hour, with 6,500 National Guard soldiers on the ground taking part.
