Hurricane Milton moved away from Florida as a Category 1 storm early Thursday morning. With 3 million people still without power and several deaths already confirmed, those who remained woke up to survey the damage.
Milton was centered off the state's Atlantic coast about 16 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral early Thursday, with maximum sustained wind speeds of about 130 mph. It's a far cry from the powerful 190 mph wind gusts that rocked Florida's Gulf Coast when the then-Category 3 storm made landfall there. Siesta Key, a barrier island town off the coast of Sarasota, Wednesday around 8:30 p.m.
The storm caused chaos and destruction across much of Florida's Gulf Coast, with wind gusts exceeding 160 mph and storm surge of 13 feet flooding some areas, leaving more than 3 million homes and businesses without power as of Thursday morning. It becomes. According to PowerOutages.us.
The damaging storm ripped roofs off buildings such as Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, and spawned about a dozen devastating tornadoes in its wake, and at least two at a retirement community in Fort Pierce. A person was killed, officials said.
But thankfully, officials in the hard-hit cities of Sarasota and Tampa Bay said the storm's effects were not as severe as feared.
“There will be storm surge damage, but nothing like this could have happened. It could have been catastrophic for Tampa Bay,” Mayor Jane Castor said Thursday.
Similarly, Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert told MSNBC that while the storm's impact on the mainland was not as severe as expected, officials still need to assess the barrier islands.
Alpert added that there were numerous power outages, but no residents called emergency calls.
“That's really unusual. No one called for help, so my feeling is they must have been evacuated,” she said.
Milton maintained hurricane status as it crossed the Florida peninsula overnight, turning northeast and away from Florida at about 18 miles per hour, according to the latest information from the National Hurricane Center.
“Like a hurricane #milton Please remain vigilant as it continues to move offshore. Dangerous tropical storm force winds, flooding, and storm surge are impacting the East Coast and Central Florida throughout the morning. Please avoid flooded areas at all costs and continue to follow all weather warnings,” the state's emergency management department said. I was warned by X.
Bands of heavy rain and strong wind gusts continue to batter parts of the state, particularly in the eastern part of the state, where wind gusts were as high as 92 mph along the Atlantic coast. Fox Weather reported.
Flash flood warnings for heavy rain are also in effect for parts of central Florida, but Floridians can expect conditions to ease throughout the day as Milton pushes out to sea.
The storm also brought heavy rain and storm surge, causing dangerous flooding in some coastal areas.
More than 5 inches of rain was recorded in St. Petersburg, Florida, in an hour, with wind gusts of 90 mph during that time. Meanwhile, parts of downtown Tampa and St. Petersburg were flooded after more than 17 inches of rain fell.
Wednesday night, water levels rose to more than 8 feet near Sarasota, near landfall, and storm surges of 3 to 6 feet were recorded from Naples to Charlotte Harbor.
Instead of the expected 15-foot storm surge, storm surge caused water levels to drop by about 5 feet in Tampa. Meanwhile, a storm surge of nearly 6 feet occurred in Naples.
Still, strong winds rocked both Tampa and St. Petersburg and even tore off the fabric roof of Tropicana Field. The state Office of Emergency Management had planned to set up a staging area at the stadium for emergency personnel responding to Milton.
The Hurricane Center said a flash flood emergency remained in place Thursday morning for the Tampa Bay area, including the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater.
Comes with post wire.
