Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, as a dangerous Category 3 storm and weakened to a Category 1 as it cut through the state and moved offshore, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Four people have so far been confirmed dead in St. Lucie County following tornadoes there, county officials said. The state is anticipating more casualties, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Milton dropped more than 18 inches of rain on St. Petersburg, representing a more than a 1-in-1000 year rainfall event for the area.
Milton, the third hurricane to hit Florida this year, has knocked out power for more than 3 million people in the state. Wind gusts of 100 mph were recorded near Tampa. Milton ripped off the roof of Tropicana Field, which was set to be a makeshift shelter for first responders.
The first National Hurricane Center forecast for what would eventually become Hurricane Milton was remarkably accurate — only a few miles off from the storm’s actual landfall location — despite being issued when the storm was still over 850 miles and more than four days away from Florida.
The first forecast, issued on Saturday, called for the storm to become a hurricane and make landfall on Wednesday near Bradenton, just south of Tampa. Milton made landfall just 12 miles from that location in Sarasota.
Milton is the first hurricane to pass within 50 miles of Tampa in 100 years in a particularly rough storm season for the state.
Milton reached 180 mph, making it the strongest hurricane ever so late in the season in the Gulf of Mexico. It is also tied for sixth-strongest anywhere in the Atlantic Basin, at any point of this year.
US President Joe Biden has issued a statement calling on those impacted by Milton to keep sheltering and avoid the roads.
Credit: cnn.com
