Hurricane Milton wreaked massive amounts of damage with its high winds and flooding as it roared through central Florida overnight.
Damage assessments in various parts of the state affected by the hurricane began Thursday morning, but it could be some time before the full extent of Milton’s economic damage becomes clear.
Florida CFO and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis predicted ahead of Milton’s arrival that the state could potentially face “somewhere north of $10 [billion], maybe $20 billion worth of insured losses” from the storm.
Milton made landfall late Wednesday evening near Siesta Key and “moved quickly across central Florida overnight,” the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. The storm was a Category 3 at the time it made landfall.
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In St. Petersburg, Hurricane Milton stripped large portions of the roof from Tropicana Field, where the Tampa Bay Rays play their home games.
Elsewhere in the city, the high winds caused a crane to fall, inflicting major damage to the building where the Tampa Bay Times is located, the Times reported.
Some areas in Milton’s path were contending Thursday with significant flooding from the hurricane’s heavy rains and storm surge.
Ahead of the storm’s landfall, St. Lucie County was hit by tornadoes. The county government said in a Thursday morning press release that four people were confirmed dead from the tornadoes that tore through the area.
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Wellington, a village not far from West Palm Beach on the state’s east coast, experienced hurricane-related tornadoes too, according to reports.
“From storm surge, to wind, to tornadoes, to flash flooding, different parts of the state felt varying impacts,” Patronis said in a post on X. “Don’t rush home. Trees are down; powers out; live saving missions are, and have been, underway. Let first responders work. No one’s better at this than Florida.”
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In a Thursday morning public advisory, the NHC said Milton “will continue to move away from the east coast of Florida and pass north of the northwestern Bahamas today.”
“Milton is forecast to become a powerful post-tropical storm this afternoon or evening, with gradual weakening expected during the next several days,” it said.
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