Following Hurricane Milton, four deaths in St. Lucie County have been confirmed.
Following Hurricane Milton’s destructive Category 3 landfall in Siesta Key yesterday night, which resulted in tornadoes that killed four people in St. Lucie County, more than three million people in Florida lost power on Thursday.
At the time of this report, Milton, a Category 1 storm, was delivering destructive gusts, flooding rains, and a growing storm surge threat to Florida’s east coast. It is presently moving off that shore. Orlando residents are being warned to remain off the highways to avoid fallen power lines by law officials in other parts of the state, while water rescue operations are now underway in Orlando.
On Thursday, Jane Castor, the mayor of Tampa, stated, “The storm surge was our first concern. Thus, thankfully, we missed its apex, but it’s far from done.
“Rivers will flood this morning at 7:00 when high tide arrives. Not only in the city of Tampa, but throughout Hillsborough County,” she continued.
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Hurricane Milton has caused more than 10 inches of rain to fall in certain areas of Florida. Fox Weather reports that in St. Petersburg, where the roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, was torn off, 18 inches of rain fell in a 24-hour period.
“Everyone must remain indoors and refrain from using the roads for travel. Lee Bercaw, the chief of police in Tampa, stated Thursday morning, “We have hundreds of calls reporting downed power lines.” “We actively work to make the city and its roadways safe, even when there are downed trees. Thus, until we give you the all-clear, kindly remain inside.”
Fox Weather was also informed by St. Lucie area Sheriff Keith Pearson that his area had seen 17 tornadoes, many fatalities, “a rescue mission ongoing, and hundreds of homes destroyed.”
Up to 10 feet of water have rushed in from the Gulf into certain parts of Florida’s western shore, and up to 5 feet of storm surge is predicted from Jacksonville.
With maximum sustained wind gusts of 85 mph, the storm was centered around 10 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral as of 5 a.m. ET on Thursday.
Nearly the whole Tampa Bay region is without power, with over 3.3 million people in Florida without it, according to the website Poweroutage.us.
Melissa Seixas, president of Duke Energy, reported on “Fox & Friends” that over 800,000 of the company’s customers in 35 Florida counties are without electricity.
“We are just starting to go out and examine the damage. We truly need that line of sight to inform us precisely what we are dealing with in terms of destruction, therefore we will do this with both troops on the ground and drones and helicopters,” she continued. “We expect that it will range from significant poles down, wires down, a lot of debris from trees, also contending with the debris that remains from Helene and flooding and storm surge probably in certain places.”
First responders were observed on boats in Orlando, rescuing people who were stuck in a flooded apartment complex using the water.
“We know some of the bridges in the county are not passable,” the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office stated on Thursday. “We urge residents and business owners to stay off the roads and give our emergency and utility crews time to work.”
Barely two weeks had passed since Hurricane Helene tore through Florida and devastated North Carolina before making landfall in Milton. In the meanwhile, people in Florida have been evacuated their houses and boarded up windows in anticipation of Milton.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Wednesday that about 10,000 National Guard members are prepared to help with rescue operations and that his state is expecting a “major hit” from Milton.
“We have five hundred tactical vehicles, which comprise eighty one high water vehicles, aerial water, and ground search and rescue teams from the National Guard. He declared, “This is the greatest search and rescue deployment of the Florida National Guard in Florida’s history.
In order to aid FEMA in its planning and reaction, President Biden also designated Florida as a disaster region before to Milton’s landfall.
Because of gusts exceeding forty miles per hour, police and firefighters in Orlando, Florida, were ordered to take refuge indoors throughout the storm, according to local officials. According to the city, emergency services will be able to react to service requests when the wind speeds drop.
James Lucas, the public safety information manager for Florida’s Incident Support Team, had issued a warning that the state’s extreme weather will make it impossible for rescuers to save lives as Hurricane Milton ravages the region.
Lucas said to Fox News Digital, “Weather conditions will deteriorate so rapidly that rescue workers cannot get in.” “That means that law enforcement officers are not going to be able to respond to any emergencies … as the storm is pushing through at 100 mph.”
