2 weeks Ago By Josh Salisbury
Hurricane Milton has crashed into Florida pounding the coast with ferocious winds of more than 100mph as and producing a series of tornadoes around the state. The cyclone had maximum sustained winds of 120mph (205kph) as it roared ashore at 8.30pm local time (1.
30am BST) near Siesta Key, the Miami -based National Hurricane Centre said. Tampa Bay avoided a direct hit, but the storm was still bringing a potentially deadly storm surge to much of Florida’s Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas such as Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
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. More than two million homes and businesses were without power on Wednesday night in Florida. About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane even made landfall, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens, Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said.
At least two people were confirmed to have been killed in a tornado in St Lucie County, according to NBC. Milton slammed into a Florida region still reeling from Hurricane Helene, which caused heavy damage to beach communities with storm surge and killed a dozen people in seaside Pinellas County alone. Earlier, officials issued dire warnings to flee or face grim odds of survival.
Authorities have issued mandatory evacuation orders across 15 Florida counties with a total population of about 7.2 million people. By early afternoon on Wednesday, airlines had cancelled about 1,900 flights.
SeaWorld was closed all day on Wednesday, and Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando shut down in the afternoon. Follow the latest updates below..
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