Hurricane Milton issued a record 129 tornado warnings, followed by a twister Most storms are caused by Severe damage occurred, and more than half of the 10 people confirmed died.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Thursday that at least 27 of those warnings have been confirmed to have produced tornadoes. But that number is expected to rise further as experts assess the damage left by the Category 3 storm in the coming days.
At least 17 tornadoes have been confirmed in St. Lucie County alone, north of West Palm Beach on Florida's Atlantic coast, with “hundreds of homes destroyed,” Sheriff Keith Pearson told Fox Weather. told.
One of them may have struck the Spanish Lakes Country Club retirement community in Fort Pierce, killing six people.
“The village of St. Lucy had the worst tornado damage I've ever seen,” Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters Wednesday as the village's death toll continued to rise. WPTV reported.
Images of the storm's aftermath showed severe wind damage typical of tornadoes, including cars being hurled and entire trash cans falling off the roofs of homes.
While it remains unclear exactly how many tornado warnings (meaning a tornado is active or almost inevitable) actually touch down, a Fox Weather meteorologist told the Post: He said the final number was likely to be unusually high and that the storm was unusually strong. .
“The main difference between yesterday and a typical hurricane will be the strength of these tornadoes,” Fox Weather said, adding that while a full assessment has not yet been reported, “by appearance alone, these are powerful It was a tornado.”
Much of that was caused by dry air south of Milton's northeast direction across the center of the Sunshine State, with several severe thunderstorms continuing to stir south of the cell and then amplified by Milton's approaching winds. .
But the situation could have been much worse.
Milton mercifully landed south of Tampa Bay and attacked the much more vulnerable Sarasota instead.
If it had made landfall in the Gulf, the storm surge could have completely engulfed the surrounding metropolis, home to more than 3 million people, under more than 15 feet of water, perhaps as it did in 2004 when the New Orleans area was flooded. This could have caused a situation similar to Hurricane Katrina. More than 1,300 people died.
“Thankfully, this was not the worst-case scenario,” DeSantis said.
However, the damage was not minor.
Severe flooding from storm surge has inundated coastal areas in the storm's path, ripped roofs off buildings including Tropicana Field, the Tampa Bay Rays' stadium, and left more than 3 million people without power.
The previous record for tornado warnings in a 24-hour period in Florida was 69 during Hurricane Irma in 2017.
