Hurricane Milton has made landfall in Florida, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has said.The category 3 storm hit shores near Siesta Key in Sarasota County around 8.30pm local time on Wednesday, bringing sustained winds of 120mph, the NHC in Miami said.
More than 1.5 million homes and businesses were without power – the highest of which were in Sarasota County and neighbouring Manatee County, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.Hurricane Milton latest: Follow live updatesMilton is expected to bring a deadly storm surge to much of Florida’s Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas such as Tampa, St Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
At the time of landfall, nearly 100,000 people were in evacuation centres across Florida, Sky News’ US partner network NBC reported, citing Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
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The streets of Cape Coral in Florida before Hurricane Milton hit. Pic: AP
Speaking from the White House earlier on Wednesday, President Joe Biden said Milton is expected to be “one of the most destructive hurricanes in Florida in over a century”.He said it carries “incredible destructiveness and can wipe out communities and cause loss of life” while urging everyone in its path to listen to the advice of local officials.
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The projected path of Hurricane Milton
Before Milton even made landfall, tornados were touched down across the state.
At least two people were confirmed to have been killed in a tornado in St Lucie County – a southeastern region in Fort Pierce, NBC reported.A spokesperson for the St Lucie Fire District confirmed the deaths and that multiple other people were taken to hospitals.
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‘Daylight will reveal the full impact’Reporting from Tampa, as the storm made landfall 60 miles away, Sky News US correspondent James Matthews said you could feel its “devastating power”.”You can hear it in the roar, and sense it. You can feel it in the wind,” he said.
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Hurricane Milton ‘matter of life and death’
“They have called this a historic hurricane. The strongest to hit this part of Florida for more than 100 years.”Reduced from a category 5 to a category 3 storm by the time it hit, but that doesn’t mean that it is not extremely powerful, extremely dangerous, and will have, one imagines, a devastating impact.
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A man wanders through deserted streets in Tampa. Pic: AP
“This is all happening in the hours of darkness, daylight will reveal the full impact of Hurricane Milton.”On Wednesday, officials issued last ditch attempts urging the near two million people under evacuation orders to flee or face slim chances of survival.Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, said: “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.”
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Pic: Reuters
While Paul Womble, Polk County emergency management director, said: “Unless you really have a good reason to leave at this point, we suggest you just hunker down.”A stream of vehicles was pictured headed north on Interstate 75, the main road on the west side of the peninsula, as residents followed evacuation orders.
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Why is Hurricane Milton shocking experts?
Traffic also clogged up the southbound lanes of the road for miles as others headed for the relative safety of Fort Lauderdale and Miami on the other side of the state.Meanwhile, animals at Tampa’s zoo took shelter in hurricane-hardened buildings.Read more:Popular TikTok user ignores hurricane evacuation orderWhy a meteorologist was reduced to tears describing Hurricane Milton
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The region is still reeling from Hurricane Helene, which caused heavy damage to beach communities and killed more than 200 people.Once past Florida, Milton should weaken over the west of the Atlantic Ocean, possibly dropping below hurricane strength on Thursday night, but storm-surges will still pose a threat to the state’s Atlantic coast.