Tampa Bay wakes up to Milton's aftermath
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Hurricane Milton ripped the roof off of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. Photo: BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images
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 Wednesday night:
State of play: Hurricane Milton plowed into Siesta Key about 8:30pm as a Category 3 storm, sparing Tampa Bay from catastrophic storm surge but lashing our 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.
- In what felt like a true doomsday scenario, tornados broke out across the state, killing several people before Milton had even arrived.
The latest: 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. Petersburg are without drinking water after a large pipe was damaged in the storm. City officials ask that you boil any water used for drinking, cooking and brushing teeth.
- Tampa Bay Water customers across Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties are being asked to limit their usage because of power outages at some facilities.
- That's on top of two water treatment plants that St. Pete officials powered off Wednesday night in anticipation of Milton's impacts. Well over half the city can't flush toilets, take showers or drain waters — possibly for days.
Highest wind speeds, by the numbers:
- Skyway Fishing Pier: 105 mph
- Sarasota-Bradenton: 102 mph
- Albert Whitted Airport, downtown St. Petersburg: 101 mph
- Tampa: 97 mph
Blinding sheets of rain fell for hours Wednesday night and into Thursday morning, flooding streets and leaking through doorframes into homes.
- That prompted the National Weather Service (NWS) to issue a flash flood emergency for Tampa, St. Pete and Clearwater.
- Flooding almost reached the front door of a home in Largo's Whisper Highlands neighborhood, per a video shared with Axios.
Stunning stat: Albert Whitted Airport saw more than 18 inches of rain Wednesday, per NWS.
- More than 5 inches fell over just one hour, WTSP reported.
Flashback: That's on par with the deluge last month that overwhelmed drainage systems and shut down roads in St. Pete and Tampa.
What's next: Authorities are starting to assess the damage and asked residents to stay inside and off roads until further notice.
- And utility crews have their work cut out for them, with hundreds of thousands of customers without power across Tampa Bay and millions across the state.