Author: Terry Spencer and Kate Payne
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday, bringing misery to a coast still ravaged by Helen, tornadoes with winds exceeding 100 mph after spawning a string of tornadoes. hour (160 km/h) winds battered the city but spared Tampa a direct hit.
The storm moved southward in the final hours and made landfall on Siesta Key near Sarasota, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Tampa. The situation in the Tampa area remains under a severe emergency, and St. Petersburg recorded more than 16 inches (41 centimeters) of rain, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a flash flood warning.
Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, appeared to be severely damaged. Television images Wednesday night showed fabric on the dome's roof torn to shreds. It was unclear if there was any damage inside the stadium.
More than 2 million homes and businesses in Florida were without power, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports. The most outages were in Hardee County and neighboring Sarasota and Manatee counties.
Even before making landfall in Milton, tornadoes were sweeping across the state. The Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce on Florida's Atlantic coast was particularly hard hit, with homes destroyed and some residents killed.
“We lost some lives,” St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson told WPBF News, but he did not say how many people were killed.
Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Department of Emergency Management, said about 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane made landfall, many of them mobile homes in senior communities.
About 90 minutes after landfall, Milton was downgraded to a Category 2 storm. As of Wednesday evening, the hurricane had maximum sustained winds of about 105 mph (165 kph), and storm surge warnings were in effect for parts of Florida's Gulf and Atlantic coastlines.
Heavy rains could also cause inland flooding along rivers and lakes as Milton moves across the Florida peninsula as a hurricane, eventually emerging in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday. It is expected to affect the densely populated Orlando area.
The storm swept through the region two weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded streets and homes in western Florida and killed at least 230 people in the South. In many places along the coast, municipalities raced to collect and dispose of debris before Milton's high winds and storm surge could sweep it up and cause more damage.
Officials issued dire warnings, asking people to flee or face little chance of survival.
“That's it, guys,” said Kathy Perkins, emergency management director for Pinellas County, which sits on a peninsula in Tampa Bay. “For those who were hit hard during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a crushing loss. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.
By late afternoon, some officials said the time for such efforts had passed, suggesting those who remained should hunker down. By evening, some counties announced they were suspending emergency services.
Jackie Curnick said she was hesitant to decide to stay at her home in Sarasota, just north of where the storm made landfall. But with a 2-year-old son and a baby girl due on Oct. 29, Curnick and her husband decided it was for the best.
Konik said they started packing to evacuate on Monday, but they couldn't find any available hotel rooms, and the few they found were too expensive.
If they got in their cars and left, she said, there would be too many unanswered questions: Where to sleep, whether they would be able to fill up their gas tanks and whether they could find a safe route out of the state.
“The problem is it's very difficult to evacuate on the peninsula,” she said. “In most other states, you can leave in any direction. In Florida, there are only so many roads that can take you north or south.
At a news conference in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis described the deployment of a variety of resources, including 9,000 National Guard members from Florida and other states; more than 50,000 utility workers from as far away as California ;Highway patrol cars with sirens escorting tanker trucks to replenish supplies so people can fill up before evacuating.
“Unfortunately, people are going to die. I don't think there's any way to fix this,” DeSantis said.
Heavy rain and tornadoes hit parts of southern Florida starting Wednesday morning, with conditions worsening throughout the day. Inland, rainfall amounts of 6 to 12 inches (15 to 31 cm) are expected, with up to 18 inches (46 cm) in some areas, creating the risk of catastrophic flooding.
A tornado struck the sparsely populated Everglades and crossed Interstate 75 early Wednesday morning. broken into pieces.
Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders for 15 Florida counties with a total population of approximately 7.2 million. Officials warned that anyone left behind must take care of themselves, as first responders were not expected to risk their lives in attempted rescues at the height of the storm.
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch told residents to expect extended power outages and possible sewer system shutdowns.
In Port Charlotte, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Tampa, Josh Parks was loading his Kia sedan with clothes and other items as the clouds swirled and the wind howled. Flooding in Helen two weeks ago brought about 5 feet (1.5 meters) of water to the neighborhood, and streets were still filled with submerged furniture, torn drywall and other debris.
Parks, an automotive technician, planned to flee to his daughter's home inland and said his roommates had already left.
“I told her to pack her bags like you're not coming back,” he said.
As of early afternoon, airlines had canceled about 1,900 flights. SeaWorld was closed all day Wednesday, and Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando were closed in the afternoon.
More than 60% of gas stations in Tampa and St. Petersburg were out of gas Wednesday afternoon, according to GasBuddy. DeSantis said the state's overall supply situation is good and Highway Patrol troopers are escorting tanker trucks to replenish supplies.
In Gulfport in the Tampa Bay area, Christian Burke and his mother live in their three-story concrete house overlooking the bay. Burke said his father designed the house with Category 5 standards in mind and now they are putting it to the test.
When a passing police car made noises to encourage an evacuation, Burke admitted it was not a good idea to stay and said he was “not laughing at the storm at all.”
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Contributing to this report was Associated Press reporter Holly Ramer in New Hampshire. Joseph Frederick, West Bradenton, Fla.; Curt Anderson, Tampa; Freida Frisaro, Fort Lauderdale; Tallahassee Brendan Farrington; Michael Goldberg in Minneapolis; Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine; Jeff Martin in Atlanta , Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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