Hurricane Milton hits Florida, causing tornadoes and power outages

Hurricane Milton made landfall in central Florida on Thursday after hitting the state's west coast several hours earlier, causing deadly tornadoes, destroying homes and cutting power to nearly 2 million customers, Reuters reports, UNN writes.

Details

The storm hit the coast around 20:30 on Wednesday local time as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 195 km/h near Siesta Key, the US National Hurricane Watch Center reported.

By 23:00 local time, wind speeds had dropped to 165 km/h, weakening Milton to a Category 2 hurricane, but it is still considered extremely dangerous. The eye of the storm was located 120 km southwest of Orlando in the center of the state.

A flash flood emergency is in effect in the Tampa Bay area, including the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, according to the Hurricane Center, with 422 mm of rainfall already falling in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.

The center of the storm hit Siesta Key, a barrier island city of about 5,400 people off Sarasota, about 100 km south of the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, home to more than 3 million people.

Governor Ron DeSantis said that Milton spawned at least 19 tornadoes that caused damage in many counties, destroying about 125 homes, most of which were mobile homes.

"It's too dangerous to evacuate safely at this point, so you're going to have to take cover and just sit it out," Desantis said as he announced the hurricane's landfall.

At least two deaths have been reported at a retirement community following a suspected tornado in Fort Pierce on Florida's east coast, NBC News reports, citing St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson. 

Pearson estimated that 100 homes were destroyed in the county, where about 17 tornadoes hit, NBC reported.

According to PowerOutage.us, more than 1.8 million homes and businesses in Florida are without power.

While evacuating people were reportedly causing highway congestion and gasoline shortages, animals, including African elephants, Caribbean flamingos, and pygmy hippos, were fleeing the storm at the Tampa Zoo.

Almost a quarter of Florida gas stations were left without fuel on Wednesday afternoon.

The storm is expected to cross the Florida peninsula overnight and enter the Atlantic, still with hurricane force, on Thursday.

After passing through Florida, it should weaken over the western Atlantic, possibly dropping to below hurricane strength, but still carrying the danger of storm surge on the state's Atlantic coast.

In a state that was already hit by Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, about two million people have been ordered to evacuate, and millions more live in the likely path of the storm.

Addendum

Much of the southern U.S. experienced the deadly force of Hurricane Helene as it cut a swath of devastation through Florida and several other states. Both storms are expected to cause billions of dollars in damage.