The moment a TV reporter cares for a dog rescued from tornado debris
Hurricane Milton has hit the US state of Florida, killing at least 16 people, officials told the BBC’s US partner CBS News.
At least five of those were in St. Lucie County on the East Coast, where Milton himself was hit by more than a dozen tornadoes before arriving late Wednesday, local officials said.
More deaths were reported in St. Petersburg in central Florida and Volusia County, 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Orlando.
The storm dumped up to 18 inches (45 centimeters) of rain in some areas and caused widespread damage and destruction across the state, leaving about 3 million homes and businesses without power.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned that flooding remains a possibility.
Nevertheless, what Florida experienced was “not the worst-case scenario,” DeSantis said. He added that about 80,000 people spent the night in evacuation centers.
“We know that as of this morning…the state is definitely involved in dozens of rescues,” he said during a Thursday briefing.
DeSantis warned that the death toll could rise further as the effects of the storm become clearer.
“While we are not aware of any reports of other fatalities in other parts of the state, it is possible that more fatalities may occur as the day progresses,” he said. “My sense is that a lot of people who were in the evacuation zone were actually evacuated.”
Ahead of the hurricane, warnings had been issued that the Tampa Bay area on the West Coast could experience record storm surge of about 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 meters).
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor expressed relief at a news conference Thursday morning that the city was not experiencing the storm surge that had been feared.
In other parts of the state, it was still several feet high, meaning walls of seawater were pushed onto land by hurricane-force winds.
Storm surge reached 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 meters) south of the Siesta Key area along the coast where the storm made landfall, forecasters said.
Caster said the situation was “not over” in her densely populated city. “At high tide, the river will flood not only in the city of Tampa, but all of Hillsborough County,” Jane Castor said.
Castor and other officials have spent days urging people in Milton’s path to flee their homes or risk death. Evacuation orders were issued across the West Coast as once-in-a-millennium rainfall was expected in some areas.
Milton finally made landfall on Wednesday night local time as a Category 3 storm, bringing winds of 124 miles per hour (200 kilometers per hour). Early in the outbreak, it was classified as a Category 5 hurricane multiple times, the most powerful type of storm.
The strong winds caused a crane to crash into a newspaper building in St. Petersburg and the roof of a Major League Baseball stadium was blown off.
Milton has been preceded by several tornadoes, sometimes accompanied by hurricanes.
Twelve of those attacks occurred in St. Lucie County, police told the CBS affiliate news station. “This is something we’ve never seen before,” the sheriff said.
The five deaths in the county included at least one at Spanish Lakes Country Club Village, a senior mobile home community near Fort Pierce.
St. Petersburg authorities reported two other deaths. At least two people were killed in Volusia County when a tree fell on their home, including a 79-year-old woman.
One person was killed when a car crashed into a fallen tree in Citrus County, authorities told CBS News.
Video: Florida residents assess hurricane damage after harrowing night
In the western part of the state, water was cut off in coastal St. Petersburg after hurricane damage forced authorities to shut down water systems.
Officials said the shutdown will last “until necessary repairs are completed” and can only be implemented when it is safe for crews to be outside.
In Tampa, police said they rescued 15 people, including children, after a tree crashed into a local home.
Chinna Perkins, one of those waiting for power to be restored, told the BBC she chose not to evacuate because she feared she and her husband would not be able to find suitable accommodation for their two large dogs. he told the BBC.
When the storm hit, the anxiety was “through the roof,” but they got through it, she said.
About 3 million people in Florida were left without power, and thousands more were affected outside the storm in Georgia and neighboring North Carolina.
Milton’s arrival comes two weeks after Hurricane Helen devastated the southeastern United States, leaving more than 200 people dead and many more missing. Cleanup activities are continuing.
Hurricane Milton is currently heading east toward the Atlantic Ocean north of the Bahamas.
