HURRICANE Milton has left a devastating trail of destruction after carving a deadly path across Florida.
The monster storm triggered at least 27 tornadoes to rip through the state – claiming at least four lives and plunging millions into darkness.
The damaged roof of Tropicana Field stadium[/caption]
A downed tree lies across a road after the passage of Hurricane Milton in Tampa[/caption]
Debris covers the ground near a crane that fell onto a building along 1st Avenue South in St. Petersburg[/caption]
Residents are rescued from an apartment complex in Clearwater that was flooded from and overflowing creek[/caption]
A home ripped apart after it was hit by a tornado triggered by the hurricane in Fort Myers[/caption]
A tornado in Broward County, Florida, spawned by the hurricane[/caption]
Treacherous conditions have caused chaos across Florida after the hurricane made landfall on Wednesday evening and plowed across.
Cities were pounded with ferocious winds of up to 120mph and rain, intensifying the misery wrought by Hurricane Helene just two weeks ago.
Milton smashed into Florida as a Category 3 storm at about 8.30pm on Wednesday near Siesta Key.
As it hurtled across the state, it whipped up a barrage of tornadoes and knocked off power from at least three million homes.
Four people have been confirmed dead in St Lucie County on Florida’s Atlantic Coast – though it is feared the toll could be higher.
Shocking images show a state battered by violent wind and rain.
In St Petersburg, the roof of the Tropicana Field stadium suffered the storm’s wrath as its roof was shredded by the almighty gale.
Multiple cranes were toppled – including one that smashed into a building – and streets have been left engulfed by water.
Guests became trapped in the Hotel Inn in Plant City – with a rescue operation launched to bring them to safety.
President Joe Biden had deployed thousands of federal personnel to areas worst affected.
But after he warned the hurricane would be “one of the most destructive hurricanes of the century”, it appears have been weaker than feared.
After twice making Category 5, Milton hit Florida as a Category 3 storm, and around 90 minutes after making landfall was downgraded to Category 2.
By early Thursday, the hurricane was a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of about 90 mph as it churned about 30 miles south of Orlando.
Tampa was spared a direct hit by the hurricane, but St. Petersburg recorded more than 16 inches of rain, prompting the National Weather Service to warn of flash flooding.
The storm knocked out power across a large section of Florida, with more than 3.2 million homes and businesses without electricity, according to poweroutage.us.
About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane came ashore, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens, Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said.
It comes as…
- Hurricane hits Florida with ‘catastrophic’ flooding
- Moment hurricane rips off baseball stadium roof
- Homeowner straps house down as hurricane sweeps in
- Watch as alligator leaps from floodwater
- Man who refused to leave his boat amid evacuation
- Moment cops rescue dog cruelly tied to pole
But while the hurricane has passed over, the danger has not.
Storm surge remained a concern in many parts of Florida and tropical storm warnings were in place for much of the east-central coast.
Officials in hard-hit Pinellas and Sarasota counties urged people to stay off the roads, warning of downed power lines, trees in roadways and blocked bridges.
The storm slammed into a region still reeling two weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded streets and homes in western Florida and left at least 230 people dead across the South.
In many places along the coast, municipalities raced to collect and dispose of debris before Milton’s winds and storm surge could toss it around and compound any damage.
A man looks at a roof on a street from a nearby house after a tornado hit Fort Myers[/caption]
The roof of Tropicana Field has been ripped off by the hurricane[/caption]
A man strapped down his home before the hurricane made landfall[/caption]
A boat struggles to stand still as Hurricane Milton bears down on the Gulf Coast in Sarasota[/caption]
