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Chaos as Hurricane Milton Makes Landfall in Florida as Category 3 Storm

First fatalities reported as the powerful storm makes landfall in Florida, knocking out power for millions, and heading towards Orlando.

Parts of the roof of Tropicana Field, the stadium where the Tampa Bay Rays play, were ripped to shreds after enduring extreme winds from Hurricane Milton, videos and photos from the area showed, as the death toll mounted in the wake of the storm.

Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, as a Category 3 storm, earlier Wednesday night, according to the National Hurricane Center. It weakened to a Category 1 early Thursday morning and was located 40 miles south-southwest of Orlando, according to the National Hurricane Center.

At least two people were killed when a tornado destroyed more than 100 homes in St Lucie, southeastern Florida. Sheriff Keith Pearson was reported as saying there had been fatalities at the Spanish Lakes Country Club retirement community. It was unclear how many had died and how many were injured.

A garage housing emergency vehicles for the county was also struck.

The National Weather Service said there had been at least 27 twisters across the state. More than three million customers have been left without power.

In St. Petersburg, a crane crashed into the offices of the Tampa Bay Times leaving a gaping hole in the building. No injuries were reported.

According to Palm Beach Country Fire Rescue, people were also trapped under rubble or in overturned vehicles in the Wellington, Acreage, and Loxahatchee areas.

Days before the storm struck, Tropicana Field was transformed into a shelter and staging area for first responders to operate from after the storm passed, USA Today reported. First responders in St. Petersburg told ABC News that the people inside the stadium were safe.

Milton’s eye reached the resort island in Sarasota County around 8:30 p.m., the National Hurricane Center said. Upon reaching the coast, it was sustaining wind speeds up to 120 miles per hour, according to forecasters. After the storm began moving across the state, winds died down slightly to maximums of 105 miles per hour, the NHC said.

Half an hour later, at 9 p.m., Milton moved inland along the west coast of Florida, reaching a WeatherFlow station at Skyway Fishing Pier with a sustained wind of 73 mph and gusts to 102 mph.

TOTAL DESTRUCTION

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In the Tampa Bay area, just north of Sarasota County, a flash flood emergency was issued around 9:30 p.m. after at least 10 to 14 inches of rain were dumped on the cities of St. Petersburg, Tampa, Riverview, and Palmetto. The National Weather Service advised Floridians to seek higher ground immediately in what they called a “PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION.”

The surrounding region was also placed under a flash flood warning extended through Thursday morning. By 10:11 p.m., the emergency was extended to the cities of Lakeland, Winter Haven, and Wesley Chapel—all cities inland towards Orlando.

Milton is moving north-eastward across the Florida peninsula, crawling across the state at approximately 16 miles per hour, forecasters at the NHC estimated.

By midnight, the flash flooding emergency remained over a number of areas of west-central Florida, while intense and damaging winds continued to spread inland, the National Hurricane Center said. The true extent of the damage and potential fatalities was unclear.

Milton spent the last three days building up strength over the Gulf of Mexico, eventually reaching Category 5 strength—the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson scale used for storms with wind speeds raging over 157 miles per hour. At its peak, Milton’s winds were billowing at speeds of at least 180 miles per hour.

Milton was eventually downgraded to Category 3 before it reached Florida. The National Hurricane Center warned Floridians that the storm was still “extremely dangerous” with a chance of life-threatening storm surges, “extreme” winds, and flash flooding across central Florida.

About 1.9 million customers in Florida had power outages as of 11:30 p.m., according to online tracker poweroutage.us. That figure was later reported to have risen to nearly 3 million.

Milton’s arrival marks the third hurricane to make landfall in 2024. Hurricane Debby struck the state in August as a Category 1 storm, while Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 26 before quickly moving north into Georgia and the Carolinas. Both storms arrived at Florida’s more sparsely populated Big Bend region directly north of Tampa Bay.

As the storm approached the mainland on Wednesday, multiple tornadoes touched down across the state, including one only 15 miles from former President Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago. Three different stations across the Sunshine State reported 153 tornado warnings by 6 p.m., the NWS said.

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Zachary FolkFreelance Reporter

David GardnerChief National Correspondent

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