Hurricane Milton Leaves Millions Without Power, Causing Devastating Flooding and Loss of Homes and Casualties Across Central Florida

Hurricane Milton has unleashed its wrath across central Florida, leaving behind a trail of devastation as it heads toward the Atlantic.The storm has already weakened to a Category 1 storm, but at its peak on Wednesday evening, Milton topped out with winds whipping at 120 mph. According to the National Hurricane Center, the storm’s center is currently ten miles northeast of Cape Canaveral with winds of 85 mph as it moves off the state’s east coast. The storm has not only flooded neighborhoods and toppled homes but has also claimed lives, and more than 3 million in the state are left without power as communities grapple with the recovery ahead.The storm started doling out damage and fatalities across the state before it even made landfall at the city of Sarasota, as the weather patterns caused a number of Tornadoes to spring up. The National Weather Service at Miami confirmed in a post on X that as many as seven tornadoes were spawned.Sheriff Keith Pearson of St. Lucie County confirmed to West Palm Beach’s WPTV that multiple people were killed inside the Spanish Lakes Country Club, a senior living community. He stopped short of specifying the exact number of deaths or injuries. Search and rescue operations are continuing throughout the region.“We have dozens of homes in St. Lucie County that have been damaged, some catastrophic damage,” St. Lucie County spokesman Erick Gill said.Milton touched down at Sarasota as a Category 3 storm around 8:30 p.m. local time – well in advance of estimates that the storm would land around midnight. The storm was downgraded to Category 2 just 90 minutes after hitting land, with its winds slowing down to 110 MPH. According to the New York Times, the storm is expected to cause far more damage on Thursday morning.Tampa, the largest city near the post of landfall experienced 100 MPH wind gusts and heavy rains and suffered “extensive damage,” according to Mayor Jane Castor, who urged residents during an early morning press conference on Thursday to stay inside until officials can adequately assess the damage.Among the destruction was the stadium for the Major League Baseball team, the Tampa Bay Rays — Tropicana Field. The venue was designated as a staging site for first responders and was set up to shelter up to 10,000 people, but it sustained damage when most of the fabric of the stadium’s domed roof tore off, according to ESPN.Tampa Bay was spared an anticipated storm surge, with the opposite occurring in a weather phenomenon known as a reverse storm surge. Ms. Castor warned the city that quick-rising waters could return in the aftermath of the storm.“[We] saved a lot. That’s what we were really worried about,” she said before adding a caveat for residents.“At 7 a.m. when high tide comes in, rivers are going to flood all over Hillsborough County, not just in the city of Tampa.”

Hurricane Milton Leaves Millions Without Power, Causing Devastating Flooding and Loss of Homes and Casualties Across Central Florida

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