A car is stranded on a water-flooded avenue after Hurricane Milton made landfall in Brandon, Florida on Oct. 9, 2024.
MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP through Getty Photographs
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MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP through Getty Photographs
Hurricane Milton weakened to a still-powerful Class 1 hurricane because it moved throughout the Florida peninsula in a single day, placing hundreds of thousands of houses and companies at midnight and with out energy.
As of three a.m. ET Thursday, the storm was about 30 miles east-southeast of Orlando, with most wind speeds of 85 mph, in keeping with the Nationwide Hurricane Heart (NHC). A flash flood emergency existed over west-central Florida, the NHC stated.
Whereas the storm has weakened significantly, varied storm surge, hurricane and tropical storm advisories have been nonetheless in impact for the realm. The storm surge is predicted to achieve as much as 5 ft in some areas, and as much as 18 inches of rainfall are forecasted, the NHC stated.
Authorities stated assessing the toll from Milton must await the approaching daylight. However maybe probably the most fast visible expression of Milton’s damaging energy was seen in St. Petersburg, the place the roof of Tropicana Subject was torn to shreds, and simply blocks away a development website crane collapsed, NPR member station WUSF reported. Items of the fiberglass roof might be seen flapping within the wind.
The variety of houses and companies with out energy grew steadily in a single day. By early Thursday morning, the variety of clients with out energy had surpassed 2.9 million, in keeping with poweroutage.us, with the best variety of outages reported within the western a part of the state, together with Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota.
Greater than 100 twister warnings related to Milton had been issued by Nationwide Climate Providers places of work in Florida, The Related Press reported.
The Florida Division of Emergency Administration inspired residents to shelter in place and “be vigilant,” as floods, tornadoes and excessive winds have been predicted.
Gov. Ron DeSantis gave related steering and stated search and rescue groups will likely be working intensely.
“People just need to buckle up for the next 24 hours, and know there’s a lot of hazards out there,” he stated on Fox Information.
