US / Hurricane Milton Hurricane Milton Leaves Path of Destruction Millions are without power, and the first deaths are reported By John Johnson, Newser Staff Posted Oct 10, 2024 6:21 AM CDT Copied A crane is seen across 1st Avenue South near the Tampa Bay Times offices in St. Petersburg, Florida, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, as Hurricane Milton's strong winds tore through the area. (Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times via AP) See 5 more photos Hurricane Milton has left a wake of destruction across Florida, with authorities just beginning to assess damage and casualties in the worst-hit parts. The latest: Milton made landfall Wednesday night on the west coast in Sarasota County as a Category 3 storm. By 5am Thursday, it had torn across the state and was moving off the east coast back into the Atlantic as a still-powerful Category 1 storm, according to the National Hurricane Center. That means sustained winds of 85mph were lashing eastern cities such as Daytona and Orlando. More than 3 million were without power, reports the Washington Post. Residents in Hardee, Hillsborough, Charlotte, Manatee, Sarasota, and Pinellas counties were most affected. Tornadoes spawned by the hurricane before landfall killed residents of St. Lucie County on the east coast, according to the sheriff, who did not yet specify numbers, per the Tampa Bay Times. Those killed are believed to have lived in a retirement community with mobile homes. The hurricane has brought life-threatening levels of high water to major areas including Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, and Fort Myers, per the AP. Some areas in Milton's path were to getting up to 18 inches of rain. That amounts to a 1,000-year rainfall event for the St. Petersburg area, notes CNN. High winds ripped the roof off the Tropicana Field baseball stadium in St. Petersburg, home of the Tampa Bay Rays. Also in St. Petersburg, winds toppled a massive construction crane downtown, and it fell onto a neighboring building that houses offices of the Tampa Bay Times. (More Hurricane Milton stories.) See 5 more photos Report an error