What Milton wrought
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Frantic searches for gas and plywood, relentless debates over staying or going, and the torturous uncertainty of a wobbly track came down to one moment for many Floridians last night:
- Landfall.
State of play: Hurricane Milton plowed into Siesta Key about 8:30pm as a Category 3 storm, sparing the Tampa Bay area from catastrophic storm surge but lashing the region with punishing wind and a stunning deluge of rainfall from the north side of the storm.
- As forecasters predicted, areas south of the landfall point got the worst of the surge. Water rushed into beach communities and downtowns from Sarasota to Naples. Ten-foot storm surge was reported in Sarasota.
- The hurricane weakened to a Category 2 storm as it moved inland. It became a Category 1 storm as it reached the east coast early this morning.
The latest: Power outages hit more than 3.1 million customers in Florida as of 6am today, per poweroutage.us.
- In St. Petersburg, powerful wind with gusts topping 100 mph tore to shreds the roof of Tropicana Field, where thousands of people were stationed to support debris removal and post-storm response.
- A few blocks away, a crane from the 400 Central building construction slammed into an office building home to the Tampa Bay Times and several other businesses. No injuries were reported in either incident, city officials said.
- Residents across St. Pete are without drinking water after a large pipe was damaged in the storm.
Stunning stat: Downtown St. Pete's Albert Whitted Airport saw more than 18 inches of rain Wednesday, per NWS.
By the numbers: This year "has now tied 1871, 1886, 1964, 2004 and 2005 for the most Florida landfalling" hurricanes on record in a single season, noted Philip Klotzbach, of Colorado State University, on X.
What's next: Damage assessments, cleanup.
- One way to help: Taylor Swift donated $5 million toward relief efforts for Hurricanes Helene and Milton. She announced Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks, on X and linked to a web page where people can donate.