13 people killed | At least 150 tornadoes reported across Florida
Hurricane Milton barreled into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after plowing across Florida, pounding cities with ferocious winds and rain, and whipping up a barrage of tornadoes. It caused at least 25 deaths and compounded the misery wrought by Helene while sparing Tampa a direct hit.
The storm tracked to the south in the final hours and made landfall as a Category 3 storm Wednesday night in Siesta Key, about 70 miles south of Tampa. While it caused a lot of damage and water levels may continue to rise for days, Gov. Ron DeSantis said it was not "the worst-case scenario."
Hurricane Milton brought powerful winds, a dangerous storm surge and flooding to much of Florida after making landfall along the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm.
Here's a look at the damage from the storm.
More than 3 million customers are without power in Florida.
More than 50,000 linemen have been pre-staged across Florida to restore power, Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
Hurricane Milton is now heading out into the Atlantic Ocean as a Category 1 hurricane, having completed its swing across Florida.
The eye of the storm is now passing past Cape Canaveral, having taken less than eight hours to make its way across the Florida peninsula.
Wind speed remains at around 85 mph, with movement northeast at 18 mph.
With its mighty strength and its dangerous path, Hurricane Milton powered into a very rare threat flirting with experts' worst fears.
Warm water fueled amazingly rapid intensification that took Milton from a minimal hurricane to a massive Category 5 in less than 10 hours. It weakened, but quickly bounced back. And when its winds briefly reached 180 mph, its barometric pressure, a key measurement for a storm's overall strength, was among the lowest ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico this late in the year.
At its most fierce, Milton almost maxed out its potential intensity given the weather factors surrounding it.
"Everything that you would want if you're looking for a storm to go absolutely berserk is what Milton had," Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach said.
Milton also grew so potent because it managed to avoid high-level cross winds that often decapitate storms, especially in autumn. As Milton neared Florida it hit those winds, called shear, which ate away at its strength, as meteorologists had forecasted.
The National Weather Service says it has received reports of multiple collapsed cranes due to high winds in St. Petersburg, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Siesta Key, where Milton made landfall.
St. Petersburg Fire Rescue confirmed one collapse late Wednesday about six blocks from the city's pier. There were no reports of injuries.
The crane was at the site of a 515-foot-tall (157-meter-tall) luxury high-rise building under construction that is being billed as one of the tallest buildings on the west coast of Florida. It was scheduled to be completed in summer 2025.
More than 3 million customers are without power in Florida.
More than 50,000 linemen have been pre-staged across Florida to restore power, Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
