ORLANDO – Hurricane Milton has torn through Florida, bringing tornadoes, floods, and storm surges.
More than three million homes and businesses are without power, and there have been “a number of deaths” reported on the Atlantic coast.
In St. Petersburg, on the west coast of the state, the water supply has been cut, a crane crashed into a newspaper building, and the roof of a Major League Baseball stadium was ripped off.
Some parts of the state are having 1-in-1000 year amounts of rain.
Milton is moving into the Atlantic, but will still produce hurricane-force winds and heavy rain over land.
The hurricane made landfall on Wednesday night near Siesta Key as a major category three hurricane.
It initially brought winds in excess of 100 mph which downed power lines, structural damage and trees.
Over 18 inches of rain fell in St. Petersburg and Tampa – that’s almost half a meter which is a one in a thousand year rainfall event for that area. Clearwater beach reported over 14 inches of rain.
As Milton moved east northeast across Florida its intensity lessened – this happens as it loses its heat and energy source over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, plus the friction as it interacts with the land.
However it maintained a category one strength – that’s sustained winds up to 90 mph, right across Florida.
It’s a huge storm in area and most of the state have felt some impact from the storm. Indeed the rainfall extends into Georgia and South Carolina.
In Plant City, east of Tampa, city manager Bill McDaniel said first responders had to rescue 35 people from high water in the early hours of Thursday.
He said some streets are completely “impassable”. He calls for residents to “refrain from coming out” and warns of “potentially toxic” flood waters.
“You don’t know what’s in that water. Our sewer stations are overwhelmed, you have gas, you have oil, you have other contaminates mixed into this water,” he said in a Facebook update. “It’s not healthy to get out in it so please refrain from coming out and getting into this flood water.” (BBC)
