Hurricane Milton Barrels Across Florida Leaving Millions Without Power

After cutting across the state overnight, Milton was pulling away from Florida’s east coast Thursday morning as a Category 1 storm with 80 mph winds, as of the hurricane center’s 11 a.m. update. 

Milton caused serious destruction and damage, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday in a news conference, noting that the extent would be better understood later in the day. 

“The storm was significant, but thankfully, this was not the worst-case scenario,” he said.

More than 3.3 million customers in Florida were without power Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us—more than a quarter of the connections it tracks in the state.

Before making landfall, Milton hammered Florida with several inches of rain, powerful winds, storm surge and tornadoes—including two that killed four people in the southeastern county of St. Lucie, the medical examiner said. 

DeSantis said it was too soon to tell how many people died in the storm. “We have not confirmed any. That does not mean there has not been any,” he said.

Storm-surge warnings are in effect Thursday for parts of the east coast of Florida and southern coast of Georgia, the hurricane center said, adding that swaths of the state are at risk for considerable urban and river flooding.

The White House said President Biden was briefed on the initial impacts of the storm and spoke to DeSantis Thursday. Biden reiterated that he would provide the state with any additional response and recovery support.

The National Weather Service on Wednesday issued Florida a record number of tornado warnings, which indicate a twister has been spotted or detected by radar. The storm is likely to have exacerbated the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene, which tore a path of death and destruction across several states in late September.

Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg and Clearwater, lifted its evacuation order midmorning Thursday, but asked residents to avoid unnecessary travel. County officials and emergency-management agencies around the state have advised residents to use caution while clearing debris and to refrain from wading into receding water.

Tracking Milton

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: All times in Eastern Time. Track and category as of the latest National Hurricane Center public advisory.

Source: NOAA

Tampa avoids worst-case scenario

Tampa Bay was spared a direct hit, allaying some fears of catastrophic damage to coastal communities there. The area, which is densely populated and has seen booming development on low-lying ground, is still expected to see significant effects.

In the bayside city of St. Petersburg, footage showed the storm had shredded the roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, while city authorities said a construction crane collapsed downtown.

No injuries were reported in either incident.

Tropicana Field was supposed to be used as a shelter for emergency crews tasked with cleanup efforts, but they were relocated before the storm when it was clear the roof wouldn’t hold up in the wind, DeSantis said Thursday. 

“There were no state assets that were in Tropicana Field,” DeSantis said.

A spokesman for the governor said on social media that the people were moved to another location in Jacksonville, more than 200 miles northeast of St. Petersburg. 

Storm-surge warnings were lifted for the Tampa Bay area, which earlier had braced for a rise of up to 9 feet, though warnings were still in place farther down the Gulf Coast and along the northern half of eastern Florida.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said the city was fortunate the storm surge wasn’t as severe as anticipated. 

“One of the blessings for us is that we didn’t see that predicted storm surge, so that saved a lot,” she said at a news conference Thursday.

Tampa International Airport, St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport and Orlando International Airport remained closed. More than 2,200 flights within, into, or out of the U.S. were canceled Thursday, according to FlightAware.

Tourist attractions such as Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, Tampa’s Busch Gardens and Orlando’s SeaWorld said they would close ahead of the storm. 

Waffle House, whose tally of restaurant closures is often considered an informal bellwether of the severity of a storm, said on X Wednesday that it has closed dozens of locations in the Tampa, Fort Myers and Orlando areas, as well as some on the state’s east coast. 

In Tampa, residents and response crews surveyed the damage from Milton on Thursday morning and began cleaning up. Power lines, trees and branches littered the ground on some streets. Debris left over from Hurricane Helene mixed with new wreckage from Milton. 

But residents seemed relieved that Milton didn’t inflict a direct hit on the city as forecasters had predicted for days in the buildup to the storm’s landfall. 

In the Carver City neighborhood near the Tampa airport, Allen Denson raked the front yard of his grandmother’s house, where he rode out the storm to keep her company. He said the wind howled fiercely overnight and lights flickered, but the power didn’t go out and the house was unscathed. 

“I’m thankful because it could have been worse,” said Denson, 39 years old. “I feel we dodged a bullet.” 

After many years of close calls with hurricanes, it appeared Tampa was finally in the bull’s-eye, Denson said. But in the end, the storm veered south, sparing the city a much worse storm surge. 

“They say it comes our way, but it always veers off,” Denson said. “I don’t know what it is. I feel it’s something about Tampa.” 

Widespread evacuations ordered

Officials from city mayors to President Biden pleaded with residents Wednesday to evacuate while they still had the chance. Mandatory evacuations were ordered for parts of nearly every county along the western coast of Florida’s peninsula.

DeSantis said Wednesday that more than 55,000 people had evacuated to shelters. In Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, six of 17 shelters were full hours before Milton made landfall, according to the county’s website. Three of 14 shelters in Sarasota County were at capacity Wednesday evening.

Almost a quarter of gas stations across Florida were out of fuel Thursday, according to GasBuddy. In the Tampa and St. Petersburg area, nearly 63% had run dry, GasBuddy said.

Inga Nash, an insurance underwriter in St. Petersburg, said she started preparing her home on Monday for Milton’s arrival, boarding up windows and filling sandbags to stop water from coming in. Helene left water halfway up her driveway, but spared her home.

Nash, along with her husband and two children, left the house, which is in a mandatory evacuation zone, on Wednesday. They drove about 20 minutes to her in-laws’ home, which is on higher ground and not in an evacuation zone.

“When we left, I was very worried, not knowing what we’re going to come back to,” the 32-year-old said Wednesday. “The unknown is what’s very frustrating.”

In the Orlando area, downtown parking garages were filled to capacity with vehicles stashed by residents hoping to protect them, and hotels were fully booked. At the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate, the lobby on Wednesday afternoon teemed with families who evacuated their homes and linemen who were preparing for poststorm repairs.

Trey and Kim Carswell, both 48 years old, sat in one corner playing a game of dominoes with their 15-year-old daughter to pass the time. The couple, Tampa residents and lifelong Floridians, are accustomed to hurricanes and have stayed put for most storms.

But this time was different, they said. Milton was heading toward Tampa Bay, and Helene had sent 4 feet of water into Trey’s mother’s home. The family evacuated along with Trey’s mother and two of her friends, as well as a Labrador and a poodle.

“After Helene, and seeing all our friends lose a lot from the storm surge, we just decided it was best to pack up and be safe,” Kim Carswell said.

Ginger Adams Otis, Joseph Pisani, Ken Thomas and Julia Munslow contributed to this article.

Write to Victoria Albert at victoria.albert@wsj.com, Arian Campo-Flores at arian.campo-flores@dowjones.com and Nicholas Hatcher at nicholas.hatcher@wsj.com