(AP) - Hurricane Milton plowed into Florida as a Category 3 storm Wednesday, bringing misery to a coast still ravaged by Helene, pounding cities with winds of over 100 mph after producing a barrage of tornadoes, but sparing Tampa a direct hit.
The storm tracked to the south in the final hours and made landfall in Siesta Key near Sarasota, about 70 miles south of Tampa. The situation in the Tampa area was still a major emergency as St. Petersburg recorded over 16 inches of rain, prompting the National Weather Service to warn of flash flooding.
Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, appeared to be badly damaged. Television images Wednesday night showed that the fabric that serves as the domed building’s roof had been ripped to shreds. It was not immediately clear if there was damage inside the stadium.
More than 2 million homes and businesses were without power in Florida, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports. The highest number of outages were in Hardee County, as well as neighboring Sarasota and Manatee counties.
LIVE WOBBLE TRACKER: Hurricane Milton moves across Florida
Before Milton even made landfall, tornadoes were touching down across the state. The Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce, on Florida’s Atlantic Coast, was hit particularly hard, with homes destroyed and some residents killed.
“We have lost some life,” St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson told WPBF News, though he wouldn’t say how many people were killed.
About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane came ashore, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens, said Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
About 90 minutes after making landfall, Milton was downgraded to a Category 2 storm. By late Wednesday, the hurricane had maximum sustained winds of about 105 mph and storm surge warnings were in effect for parts of Florida’s Gulf and Atlantic coastlines.
Heavy rains were also likely to cause flooding inland along rivers and lakes as Milton traverses the Florida Peninsula as a hurricane, eventually to emerge in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday. It is expected to impact the heavily populated Orlando area.
The storm slammed into a region still reeling two weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded streets and homes in western Florida and left at least 230 people dead across the South. In many places along the coast, municipalities raced to collect and dispose of debris before Milton’s winds and storm surge could toss it around and compound any damage.
Officials had issued dire warnings to flee or face grim odds of survival.
“This is it, folks,” said Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, which sits on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay. “Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.”
By late afternoon, some officials said the time had passed for such efforts, suggesting that people who stayed behind hunker down instead. By the evening, some counties announced they had suspended emergency services.
Jackie Curnick said she wrestled with her decision to stay at home in Sarasota, just north of where the storm made landfall. But with a 2-year-old son and a baby girl due Oct. 29, Curnick and her husband thought it was for the best.
Curnick said they started packing Monday to evacuate, but they couldn’t find any available hotel rooms, and the few they came by were too expensive.
She said there were too many unanswered questions if they got in the car and left: Where to sleep, if they’d be able to fill up their gas tank, and if they could even find a safe route out of the state.
“The thing is it’s so difficult to evacuate in a peninsula,” she said. “In most other states, you can go in any direction to get out. In Florida there are only so many roads that take you north or south."
At a news conference in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis described deployment of a wide range of resources, including 9,000 National Guard members from Florida and other states; over 50,000 utility workers from as far as California; and highway patrol cars with sirens to escort gasoline tankers to replenish supplies so people could fill up their tanks before evacuating.
“Unfortunately, there will be fatalities. I don’t think there’s any way around that,” DeSantis said.
Heavy rain and tornadoes lashed parts of southern Florida starting Wednesday morning, with conditions deteriorating throughout the day. Six to 12 inches (15 to 31 centimeters) of rain, with up to 18 inches (46 centimeters) in some places, was expected well inland, bringing the risk of catastrophic flooding.
One twister touched down Wednesday morning in the lightly populated Everglades and crossed Interstate 75. Another apparent tornado touched down in Fort Myers, snapping tree limbs and tearing a gas station's canopy to shreds.
Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders across 15 Florida counties with a total population of about 7.2 million people. Officials warned that anyone staying behind must fend for themselves, because first responders were not expected to risk their lives attempting rescues at the height of the storm.
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch told residents to expect long power outages and the possible shutdown of the sewer system.
In Charlotte Harbor, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Tampa, clouds swirled and winds gusted as Josh Parks packed his Kia sedan with clothes and other belongings. Two weeks ago, Helene’s surge brought about 5 feet (1.5 meters) of water to the neighborhood, and its streets remain filled with waterlogged furniture, torn-out drywall and other debris.
Parks, an auto technician, planned to flee to his daughter’s home inland and said his roommate already left.
“I told her to pack like you aren’t coming back,” he said.
By early afternoon, airlines had canceled about 1,900 flights. SeaWorld was closed all day Wednesday, and Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando shut down 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 was fine, and highway patrol officers were escorting tanker trucks to replenish the supply.
This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken at 11:46 a.m. EDT and provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Hurricane Milton in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (NOAA via AP)A few of the 283 registered animals, birds and reptiles line a hallway in the evacuation shelter at River Ridge Middle/High School in preparation for Hurricane Milton, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in New Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)Bill Rogers is one of 700 evacuees in the gymnasium in the shelter at River Ridge Middle/High School in preparation for Hurricane Milton, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in New Port Richey, Fla. As of 2 p.m. there were more than 1,400 registered evacuees sheltered throughout the school, along with utility and emergency services workers. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)A boat damaged in Hurricane Helene rests against a bridge ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, in South Pasadena, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)A Lee County Sheriff's officer patrols the streets of Cape Coral, Fla., as heavy rain falls ahead of Hurricane Milton, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)A view of some of the 700 evacuees in the gymnasium in shelter at River Ridge Middle/High School in preparation for Hurricane Milton on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in New Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)A police car playing a message urging people to evacuate drives past a boat deposited by Hurricane Helene outside the home of Christian Burke, who plans to ride out Hurricane Milton on his third floor overlooking Tampa Bay, along with his mother and aunt, in Gulfport, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. Burke, who said his engineer father built the concrete home to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, expects his raised ground floor to get up to 8 feet of water in Milton. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)Personal items sit abandoned on the side of a road on Deadman Key, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, in South Pasadena, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)Rain begins to fall ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)Police block off a bridge leading to the barrier island of St. Pete Beach, Fla., ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, in South Pasadena, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)Personal items sit abandoned on the side of a road on Deadman Key, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, in South Pasadena, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)A jogger runs along the bay in heavy rain ahead of Hurricane Milton, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)A boarded up business stands beside a deserted street in an evacuation zone, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, in Anna Maria, Fla., on Anna Maria Island, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)Destroyed furniture and personal items from Hurricane Helene flooding sit piled outside mobile homes in Sandpiper Resort Co-op, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, in Bradenton Beach on Anna Maria Island, Fla., Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)Boards on the window of a store display a message ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, in Bradenton Beach on Anna Maria Island, Fla., Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)Members of the Florida Army National Guard check for any remaining residents in nearly-deserted Bradenton Beach, where piles of debris from Hurricane Helene flooding still sits outside damaged homes ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, on Anna Maria Island, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)Andy Malloy, top, whose family has owned the home next door for more than 50 years, rests on the steps of Sunset Villa Condos with his wife Kim, as they take some time to say goodbye before heeding evacuation orders ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, in Bradenton Beach, Fla., on Anna Maria Island, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)People walk past boarded up storefronts in Tampa ahead of Hurricane Milton's expected landfall in the middle of this week on October 8, 2024 in Florida. Hurricane Milton exploded in strength October 7 to become a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm bound for Florida, threatening the US state with a second ferocious hurricane in as many weeks. (Photo by Bryan R. SMITH / AFP) (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)A military convoy is seen ahead of Hurricane Milton's expected mid-week landfall in Sanford, Florida on October 8, 2024. Hurricane Milton exploded in strength October 7 to become a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm bound for Florida, threatening the US state with a second ferocious hurricane in as many weeks. (Photo by Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP) (Photo by MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images)A damaged vehicle stuck in sand swept up by Hurricane Helene ahead of Hurricane Milton's expected landfall in Treasure Island, Florida, US, on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. Milton exploded into the Atlantic's strongest hurricane this year, bearing down as a catastrophic Category 5 storm on a Florida region still struggling to recover from Helene's devastation. Photographer: Tristan Wheelock/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPeople visit the beach as storm clouds hang pass overhead before Hurricane Milton's arrival on October 08, 2024 in Fort Myers, Florida. People are preparing for the storm, which could be a Cat 3 when it makes landfall on Wednesday evening. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)Don Hallenbeck, right, fills gas tanks as he prepares to stay in his home in advance of Hurricane Milton, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Port Charlotte, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
In the Tampa Bay area's Gulfport, Christian Burke and his mother stayed put in their three-story concrete home overlooking the bay. Burke said his father designed this home with a Category 5 in mind — and now they’re going to test it.
As a passing police vehicle blared encouragement to evacuate, Burke acknowledged staying isn’t a good idea and said he’s “not laughing at this storm one bit."
