Hurricane Milton has killed at least nine people and left extensive property damage across Florida, hitting some areas previously affected by Hurricane Helene last month.
Here are the key takeaways from what we know about its impact and what experts are saying about a hurricane that it had been feared could be one of the worst in the state’s history.
What was Hurricane Milton’s impact?
Milton stunned meteorologists by accelerating at record pace across the Gulf of Mexico to a huge category 5 hurricane, raising fears of catastrophe as it surged towards the heart of the heavily populated Tampa Bay area.
Ultimately, the storm made landfall at Siesta Key, Florida, just south of Tampa, on Wednesday night as a category 3 event. Homes were damaged, trees uprooted and millions lost power, and there are already reports of several deaths, but utter devastation was avoided.
“The storm was significant, but thankfully this was not the worst-case scenario,” said Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor. “The storm weakened before landfall, and the storm surge has not been as significant overall as what was observed for Hurricane Helene.”
The death toll from Helene was at least 230 people.
One of the most dramatic images in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton is the shredded roof of the Tampa Bay Rays’ Tropicana field.
How bad was the storm surge?
A major risk posed by Milton was that its winds would push huge volumes of seawater from Tampa Bay into the city itself. When the storm did arrive, the worst of this storm surge occurred in Sarasota county, where it was 8-10ft (2.5 to 3 meters)– lower than the worst of Helene two weeks ago.
But flooding in places has been significant – just inland from Tampa, Plant City received more than 13in (33cm) of rain, inundating neighborhoods. “We have flooding in places and to levels that I’ve never seen, and I’ve lived in this community for my entire life,” Bill McDaniel, the city manager, said in a video posted online on Thursday morning.
What has been the impact of tornadoes?
The sudden changes in winds when a hurricane lands can spawn tornadoes but the number and ferocity of twisters triggered by Milton were unusually high, experts say.
There were more than 140 tornado warnings across Florida on Wednesday before Milton even arrived, with some causing major damage. In St Lucie county, on the east coast of Florida, there have been four confirmed deaths from a tornado that smashed into a retirement home.
Florida sees more tornadoes per square mile than any other state but they are usually quite weak. The tornadoes triggered by Milton were of the strength often seen on the US Great Plains.
What are the biggest threats now?
Milton has now torn across Florida and is heading out in the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Bahamas. It has left behind 3 million people without power, impassable roads, wrecked bridges and surging rivers from a huge amount of rainfall.
An estimated 11 million people are at risk from flooding as this rainwater flushes through swollen rivers, with officials warning people that the danger is far from over.
Joe Biden, who had warned that Milton could be the “storm of the century”, echoed local officials in urging people to stay indoors and off the roads.
“Downed power lines, debris, and road washouts are creating dangerous conditions,” Biden posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. “Help is on the way, but until it arrives, shelter in place until your local officials say it’s safe to go out.”
What are the long-term consequences of the past couple of weeks?
Within the span of just two weeks, the US has been ravaged by two enormous hurricanes, Helene and Milton, causing hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars of damage over six states.
Many places, such as in North Carolina, are still without electricity or running water from the first storm, and people in Florida, hit by both hurricanes, face a similarly lengthy recovery period that could take months or even years.
Biden has ordered federal aid to affected states, garnering praise from Republican governors but criticism from Donald Trump, who has claimed the response has been slow and has spread falsehoods and conspiracy theories that have slowed the effort to help people, according to the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Scientists have already determined that the climate crisis, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, made Helene far more likely by heating the air and water that gives hurricanes their strength. It’s likely that Milton was also turbocharged by a Gulf of Mexico that has been at record hot temperatures since this summer.
