Milton makes landfall; 3 million lose power, tornadoes add damage outside hurricane path

Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday evening along Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm, bringing powerful winds, deadly storm surge and potential flooding to much of the state.

The cyclone had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph when it roared ashore in Siesta Key, Florida, at 7:30 p.m. About 90 minutes after making landfall, Milton was downgraded to a Category 2 storm. By early Thursday, the hurricane was a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of about 85 mph and leaving the state near Cape Canaveral.

More than 3 million homes and businesses were left without power around 4 a.m. Thursday, according to PowerOutages.us. 

Milton spawned more than 100 tornadoes that wreaked havoc on Florida communities Wednesday afternoon. Heavy rainfall and storm surges also caused dangerous flooding in some coastal areas.

Fire officials said a crane collapsed in downtown St. Petersburg, but there are no reports of injuries. The crane was at the site of a luxury high-rise building under construction that is being billed as one of the tallest buildings on the west coast of Florida. It was scheduled to be completed next summer.

The fabric that serves as the roof of Tropicana Field — home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team in St. Petersburg — was ripped to shreds by the fierce winds from Hurricane Milton. It wasn’t immediately clear if there was damage inside. Before the storm hit, first responders were moved from a staging area there.

St. Petersburg is about 50 miles north of Siesta Key, where Milton made landfall.

Before Milton even made landfall, heavy rain and tornadoes lashed parts of southern Florida on Wednesday morning. The Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce, on Florida’s Atlantic Coast, was hit particularly hard, with homes destroyed and some residents killed.

Four people were killed in tornadoes there, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane came ashore, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens.



(Photo: Max Chesnes/Tampa Bay Times via AP)