Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida’s west coast Wednesday night as an extremely dangerous storm, bringing a “life-threatening” surge and catastrophic winds that left more than 3 million people without power and areas inundated with water.
Milton made landfall as a Category 3 storm near Siesta Key in Sarasota County around 8:30 p.m., with winds up to 120 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center — significantly lighter than the 180 mph Milton blew while raging as a Category 5 storm at various points as it traveled across the gulf.
Siesta Key, a barrier island off Sarasota renowned for being one of the 25 best beaches in the world, has about 5,500 residents who are mostly retirement age.
Water levels rose more than 8 feet in nearby Sarasota, the National Weather Service reported, with storm surges up to 5 feet recorded from Naples to Charlotte Harbor, with more inundation likely in Manatee and Sarasota counties.
By early Thursday, the superstorm was downgraded to a Category 1, though its effects could still be felt as it made its way across the Sunshine State.
“Sarasota will continue to see intense wind gusts upwards of 100-plus the next few hours as Milton gradually moves across the region, as well as storm surge as high as 12 feet,” Jordan Overton, a senior meteorologist with Fox Weather, told The Post.
“Power outages are likely. These effects will gradually wane early tomorrow morning as Milton moves away from the county.”
More than 2.2 million people were without power by early Thursday, according to PowerOutages.us, with several outages along the peninsula’s western coast and central Florida, where several deadly tornadoes ripped through the region.
The dangerous twisters also took down power lines earlier in the day.
At least nine tornadoes were confirmed as storm systems capable of generating horrific tornadoes swept across Florida and its southern peninsula ahead of Milton’s official landfall on Wednesday, the National Weather Service in Miami confirmed on X.
On the opposite coast of Sarasota, tornados killed multiple people in a retirement community in Fort Pierce, local officials told CBS12.
St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson told the local news station that between six and 12 twisters tore through the area in just 20 minutes. He later said he was able to confirm a total of 17 hit the county during an appearance on Fox Weather.
Search and rescue teams were “excavating people” from damaged buildings at Spanish Lakes Country Club Village, where several people died, he said. The sheriff didn’t provide an exact number of fatalities Wednesday night.
More tornadoes could hit the state thoroughly early Thursday, the National Weather Service said.
Back on the Gulf Coast, Fox weather officials said the center of the storm went over Sarasota, as opposed to 15 miles north, resulting in small deviations in the significance over which areas experienced the worst storm surge.
Tampa’s “surge” was practically nil due to offshore winds at around 11 p.m., according to Fox, with Port Manatee seeing just above a foot of surge.
Still, powerful winds rocked Tampa and St. Petersburg across the bay, and tore the fabric roof off Tropicana Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays, according to a video posted to X. The state’s emergency management department had planned to set up a staging site for emergency workers responding to Milton at the stadium.
And in downtown St. Petersburg, a massive crane collapsed, damaging a nearby building. No injuries were reported.
Downtown Sarasota has experienced more than half a foot of rain, with another 1 to 3 inches expected, weather officials said.
Just north in Bradenton — 13 miles from Tampa — the area was walloped with wind gusts in excess of 80 to 100 mph, Overton confirmed, resulting in at least 20 transformer explosions.
Meanwhile, Boca Grande, a small island community south of Sarasota, could see a devastating surge as high as 13 feet if it strikes at the same time as high tide, according to the National Weather Service.
The storm’s landfall just south of Tampa Bay was fortuitous, however — if it struck the heart of the bay, or even north of it, forecasters feared it would result in one of the most dangerous storm surges in US history.
Tampa Bay is almost tailor-made for dangerous storm surges. Shallow waters offshore cause waves to pile up as they push towards land, while the bay’s shape and opening further compress the approaching water.
Most of the surrounding communities sit at elevations below 10 feet, meaning a 13-foot storm surge would leave hundreds of thousands of homes dangerously submerged.
Many feared a direct hit to Tampa Bay could create a calamity to rival Hurricane Katrina in 2005, where overwhelmed levees broke and flooded massive swatch of the city at the cost of more than 1,300 lives.
Over 3 million people who live around Tampa Bay were ordered to evacuate ahead of the storm, with Tampa Mayor Jane Castor cautioning “If you choose to stay … you are going to die.”
Milton made history as it charged toward Florida, peaking as the second strongest Gulf hurricane in history just a day after forming off the Yucatan Peninsula.
Its lowest pressure — commonly used to measure a hurricane’s strength, with lower numbers denoting more power — peaked at 897 millibars, just behind violent Hurricane Rita’s 895 mb in 2005.
Katrina, by comparison, peaked at a strength of 902 mb with winds of 175 mph.
