Author: Terry Spencer and Kate Payne
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Milton hurtled into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after barreling across Florida, pummeling cities with fierce winds and rain and spawning a string of tornadoes. It killed at least four people, compounding the suffering caused by Helen while shielding Tampa from a direct hit.
The storm moved southward in the final hours and made landfall Wednesday night as a Category 3 storm on Siesta Key, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Tampa. While it caused a lot of damage and water levels could continue to rise for days, Gov. Ron DeSantis said it wasn't the “worst case scenario.”
While the situation in the region remains under a severe state of emergency, Tampa's feared deadly storm surge does not appear to be materializing. The storm dropped up to 18 inches (45 centimeters) of rain in the Tampa and St. Petersburg areas.
DeSantis said the worst storm surge appeared to be in Sarasota County, where surge heights of 8 to 10 feet (2.5 to 3 meters) were lower than the worst during Helen.
“As time goes by, we will better understand the extent of the damage,” he said. “This storm is very severe, but fortunately it's not the worst-case scenario.”
At dawn Thursday, officials reiterated that the danger had not passed: A storm surge warning was issued for much of the east-central Florida coast and north into Georgia, and a tropical storm warning was issued for coastal South Carolina. Officials in Florida's hardest-hit Hillsborough, Pinellas, Sarasota and Lee counties urged people to stay home and warned of downed power lines, road trees, blocked bridges and flooding.
“We will let you know when it is safe for us to come out,” Sheriff Chad Chronister of Hillsborough County, where Tampa is located, said on Facebook.
The storm left most of Florida without power, with more than 3.2 million homes and businesses without power, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.
High winds tore the roof fabric to shreds at Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team, in St. Petersburg. It was unclear whether there was any damage inside. Several cranes also collapsed during the storm, the weather service said.
St. Petersburg residents also can no longer get water from their taps in their homes because a water main break has shut down the city's water supply. Mayor Ken Welch told residents to expect extended power outages and possible sewer system shutdowns.
Just inland from Tampa, flooding in Plant City is “absolutely shocking,” City Manager Bill McDaniel said. Emergency crews rescued 35 people overnight, said McDaniel, who estimated 13.5 inches (34 centimeters) of rain fell in the city.
“We have flooding in places and to an extent that I've never seen before, and I've lived in this community my whole life,” he said in a video posted online Thursday morning.
Heavy rain and tornadoes hit parts of south Florida Wednesday morning before making landfall in Milton, with conditions worsening throughout the day. A tornado struck the sparsely populated Everglades and crossed Interstate 75.
The Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce on Florida's Atlantic coast was particularly hard hit, with homes destroyed and some residents killed.
The St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office said four people died in the tornado.
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. By early Thursday, the hurricane had become a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of about 85 mph (135 kph) and exited the state near Cape Canaveral.
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. By late afternoon, some officials said the time for such efforts had passed, suggesting those who remained should hunker down.
Jackie Curnick said she was hesitant to decide to stay at her home in Sarasota, just north of where the storm made landfall. She and her husband started packing on Monday to evacuate, but they were having trouble finding available hotel rooms, and the few they found were too expensive.
Konik, who is due on Oct. 29 and has a 2-year-old son and a baby girl, said if they got in the car and left, too many questions would be left unanswered: Where to sleep, whether they could fill up the tank tanks, and whether they can find a safe route out of the state.
Footage taken during the storm shows howling winds and heavy rain lashing their glass-enclosed swimming pool as their son and dog look on. The trees shook violently.
“The problem is it's very difficult to evacuate on the peninsula,” she said before the storm. “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.
Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders for 15 Florida counties with a total population of approximately 7.2 million. In Orlando, Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld remained closed Thursday.
More than 60% of gas stations in Tampa and St. Petersburg were out of gas Wednesday night, according to GasBuddy, though DeSantis said the state's overall supply situation was good.
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.
Josh Parks was loading his Kia sedan with clothes and other items on Wednesday in Port Charlotte, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Tampa, as the clouds rolled in and the wind blew. 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.
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Associated Press writers Holly Ramer in New Hampshire; Joseph Frederick in West Bradenton, Fla.; Curt Anderson in Tampa; Freida Frisaro In Fort Lauderdale; Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee; Michael Goldberg in Minneapolis; Patrick Whittle in Porter, Maine Lan; Jeff Martin in Atlanta and Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed to this report.
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