Saturday, 21 December, 2024
Hurricane Milton moved into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after carving a destructive path across Florida, bringing tornadoes, killing at least 10 people, and leaving millions without power. However, the storm did not result in the catastrophic seawater surge that had been anticipated.
Governor Ron DeSantis stated that the state had avoided the "worst-case scenario" but noted that the damage was still substantial. The Tampa Bay area, which had faced the most severe warnings, managed to escape the feared storm surge.
At a White House briefing, US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reported that at least 10 deaths were attributed to Hurricane Milton, likely caused by tornadoes spawned by the storm.
In St. Lucie County on Florida’s east coast, a series of tornadoes claimed five lives, including at least two residents in the senior-living Spanish Lakes Communities, according to county spokesperson Erick Gill. Search-and-rescue teams are currently combing through severely affected areas, including a mobile home park.
Governor Ron DeSantis reported that as of 8 p.m. Wednesday—around the time Hurricane Milton made landfall—there were 19 confirmed tornadoes in Florida. The National Weather Service noted that 45 tornadoes were reported throughout the day, primarily in the central and eastern regions of the state.
More than 3 million homes and businesses in Florida were without power as of Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us. Some residents have already been without power for days, still recovering from Hurricane Helene, which struck the area two weeks ago.
Milton shredded the fabric roof of Tropicana Field, the stadium of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team in St Petersburg, but there were no reported injuries. The ballpark was a staging area for responders, with thousands of cots set up on the field.
In the Tampa area, the storm toppled trees, threw debris across roadways and downed power lines, video footage from local news showed. Some neighborhoods were flooded, but the extent of the damage will not be known until crews can assess the destruction, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said at a morning news conference.
Steven Cole Smith, 71, an automotive writer and editor who lives in Tampa about seven miles (11 km) from the Gulf Coast, rode out the storm with his wife. He said the wind shook the windows so hard he thought they would shatter.
"We really didn't have anywhere else to go," said Smith, explaining his decision not to follow evacuation orders. He owns a house in central Florida, but the forecast for that area looked just as severe as where he was staying.
"I spent yesterday gathering supplies, fuel for the generator, everything we'd need," he said. "I even have a chainsaw."
Fortunately, Tampa avoided a direct hit, he noted.
Ken Wood, 58, a state ferryboat operator in Pinellas County, evacuated his Dunedin home on Florida's Gulf Coast with his 16-year-old cat, Andy, after making the "terrifying" mistake of riding out Hurricane Helene in his mobile home two weeks ago.
This time, he heeded evacuation orders and drove north but only made it as far as a hotel about an hour away when he decided it was too dangerous to stay on the roads.
"It was pretty loud, but Andy slept through it all," he told Reuters by phone.
Wood is worried about his home but is waiting for official confirmation that the roads are clear before returning. Helene had destroyed about a third of his neighborhood, and the streets were still filled with debris that could become wind-driven projectiles.
Emergency crews responded overnight to numerous calls for assistance, including one incident where 15 people were rescued after a tree fell on a house, according to Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw.
Strong winds toppled a large construction crane in St. Petersburg, causing it to crash onto an empty street.
The state remains at risk of river flooding, with up to 18 inches (457 mm) of rain reported. Authorities are monitoring rivers for cresting, but so far, water levels are at or below those seen after Hurricane Helene, according to Castor on Thursday morning.
Most of the severe damage reported so far has been caused by tornadoes, said Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) head Deanne Criswell, who was in Tallahassee on Thursday.
"The evacuation orders saved lives," she said, noting that more than 90,000 residents had taken refuge in shelters.
In Fort Myers on the southwest coast, resident Connor Ferin surveyed the wreckage of his home, which had lost its roof and was filled with debris and rainwater after a tornado struck.
"All this happened in an instant—these windows just blew out," he said. "I grabbed my two dogs, ran under my bed, and that was it. The whole thing lasted probably one minute."
President Joe Biden, who postponed an overseas trip to monitor Hurricane Milton, spoke with local leaders in Florida on Thursday, pledging the full support of the federal government.
The hurricane made landfall on Florida’s west coast on Wednesday night as a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (205 kph). Although still dangerous, Milton had weakened from its rare Category 5 status as it moved over the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida.
Milton weakened further over land, becoming a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 85 mph (145 kph) as it crossed the peninsula’s east coast, according to the National Hurricane Center. By Thursday morning, the storm had moved away from Florida’s Atlantic coast after lashing communities along the eastern shoreline.
The eye of the storm made landfall in Siesta Key, a barrier island town with around 5,400 residents, located off Sarasota about 60 miles (100 km) south of Tampa Bay.
In a state still recovering from Hurricane Helene, as many as 2 million people were ordered to evacuate ahead of Milton’s arrival, and millions more remain in the storm’s path. Both hurricanes are expected to cause billions of dollars in damages.
Florida airports, including Tampa, Palm Beach, and St. Pete-Clearwater, remained closed on Thursday, with exceptions for emergency aircraft, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
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Hurricane Milton moved into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after carving a destructive path across Florida, bringing tornadoes, killing at least 10 people, and leaving millions without power. However, the storm did not result in the catastrophic seawater surge that had been anticipated.
Governor Ron DeSantis stated that the state had avoided the "worst-case scenario" but noted that the damage was still substantial. The Tampa Bay area, which had faced the most severe warnings, managed to escape the feared storm surge.
At a White House briefing, US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reported that at least 10 deaths were attributed to Hurricane Milton, likely caused by tornadoes spawned by the storm.
In St. Lucie County on Florida’s east coast, a series of tornadoes claimed five lives, including at least two residents in the senior-living Spanish Lakes Communities, according to county spokesperson Erick Gill. Search-and-rescue teams are currently combing through severely affected areas, including a mobile home park.
Governor Ron DeSantis reported that as of 8 p.m. Wednesday—around the time Hurricane Milton made landfall—there were 19 confirmed tornadoes in Florida. The National Weather Service noted that 45 tornadoes were reported throughout the day, primarily in the central and eastern regions of the state.
More than 3 million homes and businesses in Florida were without power as of Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us. Some residents have already been without power for days, still recovering from Hurricane Helene, which struck the area two weeks ago.
Milton shredded the fabric roof of Tropicana Field, the stadium of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team in St Petersburg, but there were no reported injuries. The ballpark was a staging area for responders, with thousands of cots set up on the field.
In the Tampa area, the storm toppled trees, threw debris across roadways and downed power lines, video footage from local news showed. Some neighborhoods were flooded, but the extent of the damage will not be known until crews can assess the destruction, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said at a morning news conference.
Steven Cole Smith, 71, an automotive writer and editor who lives in Tampa about seven miles (11 km) from the Gulf Coast, rode out the storm with his wife. He said the wind shook the windows so hard he thought they would shatter.
"We really didn't have anywhere else to go," said Smith, explaining his decision not to follow evacuation orders. He owns a house in central Florida, but the forecast for that area looked just as severe as where he was staying.
"I spent yesterday gathering supplies, fuel for the generator, everything we'd need," he said. "I even have a chainsaw."
Fortunately, Tampa avoided a direct hit, he noted.
Ken Wood, 58, a state ferryboat operator in Pinellas County, evacuated his Dunedin home on Florida's Gulf Coast with his 16-year-old cat, Andy, after making the "terrifying" mistake of riding out Hurricane Helene in his mobile home two weeks ago.
This time, he heeded evacuation orders and drove north but only made it as far as a hotel about an hour away when he decided it was too dangerous to stay on the roads.
"It was pretty loud, but Andy slept through it all," he told Reuters by phone.
Wood is worried about his home but is waiting for official confirmation that the roads are clear before returning. Helene had destroyed about a third of his neighborhood, and the streets were still filled with debris that could become wind-driven projectiles.
Emergency crews responded overnight to numerous calls for assistance, including one incident where 15 people were rescued after a tree fell on a house, according to Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw.
Strong winds toppled a large construction crane in St. Petersburg, causing it to crash onto an empty street.
The state remains at risk of river flooding, with up to 18 inches (457 mm) of rain reported. Authorities are monitoring rivers for cresting, but so far, water levels are at or below those seen after Hurricane Helene, according to Castor on Thursday morning.
Most of the severe damage reported so far has been caused by tornadoes, said Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) head Deanne Criswell, who was in Tallahassee on Thursday.
"The evacuation orders saved lives," she said, noting that more than 90,000 residents had taken refuge in shelters.
In Fort Myers on the southwest coast, resident Connor Ferin surveyed the wreckage of his home, which had lost its roof and was filled with debris and rainwater after a tornado struck.
"All this happened in an instant—these windows just blew out," he said. "I grabbed my two dogs, ran under my bed, and that was it. The whole thing lasted probably one minute."
President Joe Biden, who postponed an overseas trip to monitor Hurricane Milton, spoke with local leaders in Florida on Thursday, pledging the full support of the federal government.
The hurricane made landfall on Florida’s west coast on Wednesday night as a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (205 kph). Although still dangerous, Milton had weakened from its rare Category 5 status as it moved over the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida.
Milton weakened further over land, becoming a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 85 mph (145 kph) as it crossed the peninsula’s east coast, according to the National Hurricane Center. By Thursday morning, the storm had moved away from Florida’s Atlantic coast after lashing communities along the eastern shoreline.
The eye of the storm made landfall in Siesta Key, a barrier island town with around 5,400 residents, located off Sarasota about 60 miles (100 km) south of Tampa Bay.
In a state still recovering from Hurricane Helene, as many as 2 million people were ordered to evacuate ahead of Milton’s arrival, and millions more remain in the storm’s path. Both hurricanes are expected to cause billions of dollars in damages.
Florida airports, including Tampa, Palm Beach, and St. Pete-Clearwater, remained closed on Thursday, with exceptions for emergency aircraft, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
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