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 (NHC) said on Thursday 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).
Milton made landfall at about 8:30pm (00:30 GMT) on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 195km/h (121mph) near the affluent beach town of Siesta Key, which sits on a barrier island on Florida’s Gulf coast just south of Tampa Bay.
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.
No injures were reported.
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.
The roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team, was ripped apart by Hurricane Milton. pic.twitter.com/JdIomWdTnZ
— AccuWeather (@accuweather) October 10, 2024
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 damage assessment continues.
Less storm surge than Helene
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.
While damage was widespread, and water levels may continue to rise for days, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said it was not “the worst-case scenario.”
The storm dumped up to 45cm (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 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 as of 3:58am (07:58 GMT), according to Poweroutage.us, which tracks power supply, with the state’s west coast worst affected.
“Help is on the way”
US President Joe Biden issued a statement calling on those impacted by Milton to keep sheltering and avoid the roads.
“Help is on the way, but until it arrives, shelter in place until your local officials say it’s safe to go out,” the president said in a post on social media.
To everyone impacted by Hurricane Milton: I urge you stay inside 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 your local officials say it’s safe to go out.
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 10, 2024
Reporting from Orlando, Florida, Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro said there were people who chose to ride the storm out and shelter in place.
In Plant City, on the outskirts of Tampa, she said most people seem to have been mostly spared. “There have been near misses, with trees toppling just inches away from homes. There is some standing water and minimal flooding,” she said.
But there is less information about some of the coastal communities where the storm made landfall – such as Siesta Key in Sarasota county.
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.
Al Jazeera’s senior weather presenter Everton Fox said Milton was likely to be downgraded to a tropical storm by Thursday evening as it tracks east into the Atlantic, adding that winds still pose a significant threat and flooding remains a major concern.
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 surpassed last year’s total.
Oliver Carpenter, director of Environmental Risk, Resilience, a University of Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies spinout, told Al Jazeera that climate change is affecting hurricane activity in the North Atlantic.
“[It is] supercharging them to be more destructive and increasing the risk of major damage. Tropical cyclones occur naturally, but climate change is fueling warmer ocean and air temperatures which is driving more intense, larger, and longer-lasting storms,” he said.
While Milton is expected to do the most damage in western Florida, the neighbouring state of Georgia, which is reeling from last month’s Hurricane Helene, is also bracing for its impact.
Georgia Governor 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 promised support for the affected regions. Speaking to reporters at the White House, he also condemned falsehoods spread about the federal emergency response to Milton and Helene as “un-American”.
“Over the last few weeks, there has been reckless and irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies about what’s going on. It’s undermining confidence in the people of Florida,” Biden said. “It’s harmful to those who most need the help.”
Biden said assertions were made that property was being confiscated, a claim that was “simply not true”. Republican candidate Donald Trump, however, has repeated that claim on the campaign trail, as he seeks a second term as president.
