Brandon Marlow walks through surge waters flooding the street after Hurricane Milton came ashore in Fort Myers, Florida.Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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Hurricane Milton plowed into Florida as a Category 3 storm Wednesday, bringing misery to a coast still ravaged by Helene, pounding cities with winds of over 160 km/h after producing a barrage of tornadoes, but sparing Tampa a direct hit.
The storm tracked to the south in the final hours and made landfall in Siesta Key near Sarasota, about 112 kilometres south of Tampa. The situation in the Tampa area was still a major emergency as St. Petersburg recorded over 41 centimetres of rain, prompting the National Weather Service to warn of flash flooding.
Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, appeared to be badly damaged. Television images Wednesday night showed that the fabric that serves as the domed building’s roof had been ripped to shreds. It was not immediately clear if there was damage inside the stadium.
More than 2 million homes and businesses were without power in Florida, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports. The highest number of outages were in Hardee County, as well as neighbouring Sarasota and Manatee counties.
Before Milton even made landfall, tornadoes were touching down across the state. The Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce, on Florida’s Atlantic Coast, was hit particularly hard, with homes destroyed and some residents killed.
“We have lost some life,” St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson told WPBF News, though he wouldn’t say how many people were killed.
About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane came ashore, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens, said Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
About 90 minutes after making landfall, Milton was downgraded to a Category 2 storm. By late Wednesday, the hurricane had maximum sustained winds of about 165 km/h and storm surge warnings were in effect for parts of Florida’s Gulf and Atlantic coastlines.
Heavy rains were also likely to cause flooding inland along rivers and lakes as Milton traverses the Florida Peninsula as a hurricane, eventually to emerge in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday. It is expected to impact the heavily populated Orlando area.
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.
Officials had issued dire warnings to flee or face grim odds of survival.
“This is it, folks,” said Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, which sits on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay. “Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.”
By late afternoon, some officials said the time had passed for such efforts, suggesting that people who stayed behind hunker down instead. By the evening, some counties announced they had suspended emergency services.
Jackie Curnick said she wrestled with her decision to stay at home in Sarasota, just north of where the storm made landfall. But with a 2-year-old son and a baby girl due Oct. 29, Curnick and her husband thought it was for the best.
Curnick said they started packing Monday to evacuate, but they couldn’t find any available hotel rooms, and the few they came by were too expensive.
She said there were too many unanswered questions if they got in the car and left: Where to sleep, if they’d be able to fill up their gas tank, and if they could even find a safe route out of the state.
“The thing is it’s so difficult to evacuate in a peninsula,” she said. “In most other states, you can go in any direction to get out. In Florida there are only so many roads that take you north or south.”
Wind and rain pounded the old-Florida fishing village of Matlacha on Wednesday as Hurricane Milton approached the Gulf Coast. Florida residents prepared for impact, with over 1 million people ordered to evacuate.
Reuters
At a news conference in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis described deployment of a wide range of resources, including 9,000 National Guard members from Florida and other states; over 50,000 utility workers from as far as California; and highway patrol cars with sirens to escort gasoline tankers to replenish supplies so people could fill up their tanks before evacuating.
“Unfortunately, there will be fatalities. I don’t think there’s any way around that,” DeSantis said.
Heavy rain and tornadoes lashed parts of southern Florida starting Wednesday morning, with conditions deteriorating throughout the day. Fifteen to 31 centimetres of rain, with up to 46 centimetres in some places, was expected well inland, bringing the risk of catastrophic flooding.
One twister touched down Wednesday morning in the lightly populated Everglades and crossed Interstate 75. Another apparent tornado touched down in Fort Myers, snapping tree limbs and tearing a gas station’s canopy to shreds.
Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders across 15 Florida counties with a total population of about 7.2 million people. Officials warned that anyone staying behind must fend for themselves, because first responders were not expected to risk their lives attempting rescues at the height of the storm.
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch told residents to expect long power outages and the possible shutdown of the sewer system.
In Charlotte Harbor, about 160 kilometres south of Tampa, clouds swirled and winds gusted as Josh Parks packed his Kia sedan with clothes and other belongings. Two weeks ago, Helene’s surge brought about 1.5 meters of water to the neighbourhood, and its streets remain filled with waterlogged furniture, torn-out drywall and other debris.
Parks, an auto technician, planned to flee to his daughter’s home inland and said his roommate already left.
“I told her to pack like you aren’t coming back,” he said.
By early afternoon, airlines had cancelled about 1,900 flights. SeaWorld was closed all day Wednesday, and Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando shut down in the afternoon.
More than 60 per cent of gas stations in Tampa and St. Petersburg were out of gas Wednesday afternoon, according to GasBuddy. DeSantis said the state’s overall supply was fine, and highway patrol officers were escorting tanker trucks to replenish the supply.
In the Tampa Bay area’s Gulfport, Christian Burke and his mother stayed put in their three-story concrete home overlooking the bay. Burke said his father designed this home with a Category 5 in mind – and now they’re going to test it.
As a passing police vehicle blared encouragement to evacuate, Burke acknowledged staying isn’t a good idea and said he’s “not laughing at this storm one bit.”
Members of the Florida Army National Guard check for any remaining residents in nearly-deserted Bradenton Beach, where piles of debris from Hurricane Helene still sit outside damaged homes, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, on Anna Maria Island, Fla.Rebecca Blackwell/The Associated Press
A warning to Canadians
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly issuing a warning to Canadians currently in Florida.
Arriving for Wednesday’s Liberal caucus meeting, Ms. Joly urged Canadians in the state to follow the evacuation orders of U.S. authorities.
“This is about making sure that your life is safe, that your life of your loved ones are safe as well,” she told journalists.
The minister also urged Canadians considering trips to the state to postpone their plans.
“This is not the time,” she said.
As of Wednesday, Ms. Joly said she did not have an updated number on how many Canadians are in Florida right now.
“We know all of us go to Florida. We don’t necessarily register with the embassy. And so, when you look at the number, it’s just an indication, but that’s clearly not the entire picture,” she said.
With a report from Ian Bailey in Ottawa.
Hurricane Milton strengthened as it churned through the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida on Tuesday (Oct. 8) and could wallop one of the Florida's major population centres with huge storm surges, lashing rain and destructive winds just two weeks after deadly Hurricane Helene swamped the coastline.
The Associated Press