Hurricane Milton smashed trees, ripped roofs off buildings, and flooded streets on Thursday, leaving residents on the Florida coast examining a trail of devastation in a state still reeling from another big storm two weeks ago.
Hurricane Helene formed in late September 2024 and rapidly intensified as it swept over the Gulf of Mexico. It killed more than 200 people.
It strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220 km/h) before reaching landfall on September 27 near Perry, Florida.
Meanwhile, more than three million homes and businesses in Florida were without power after a Category 3 storm made landfall on Wednesday near Siesta Key on the state’s western coast.
As the storm’s eye passed across the peninsula, communities faced severe gusts, torrential rains, and the possibility of flash floods.
Milton sparked tornadoes before it arrived, with unsubstantiated allegations of many deaths after one twister devastated a retirement community on Florida’s east coast.
“We had multiple tornadoes touch down here in the Spanish Lakes community, and we have lost some life,” St. Lucie County sheriff Keith Pearson told WPBF News.
Pearson also posted a video on his department’s Facebook page urging locals to seek shelter, depicting their “10,000-square-foot red-iron building” that holds police patrol cars being ripped apart by a storm.
“The difficulty with the tornadoes is that we don’t know where they’re going to land,” St. Lucie County commissioner Chris Dzadovsky told reporters.
President Joe Biden was told on Milton’s “initial impacts,” according to the White House, as Democratic and Republican responses are expected to be keenly examined with only four weeks until the hotly disputed US presidential election.
Milton had fallen to a Category 1 hurricane but was still packing gusts of up to 85 miles (140 kilometres) per hour on Thursday morning, according to the National Hurricane Centre.
According to tracker poweroutage.us, at least 3.1 million households and businesses in the state were without power as of late Wednesday.
The storm ripped through the roof of the Tampa Bay Rays’ home stadium, revealing the metal railing underneath as massive panels were wrenched off and thrown flying, according to video footage revealed.
Milton is predicted to speed inland, bringing tourist hotspot Orlando—home to Disney World, which has closed because of the storm—in its path.
Scientists predict heavy rainfall and damaging storms are becoming more severe and frequent as temperatures rise due to climate change. Warmer ocean surfaces release more water vapour, providing more energy to storms as they build.
The wind howled violently and torrential rain dropped in cities across Florida’s western coast, forcing people to seek shelter wherever they could.
Wind gusts shattered glass panes from waterfront buildings in Sarasota, near Siesta Key.
The streets were desolate, trees swayed almost horizontally, and businesses were closed and sandbagged.
