Photos and videos of the chaos, flooding, and destruction caused by Hurricane Milton in Florida are all over the internet. Watch
Florida: Photos and images of the mayhem, floods, and devastation Hurricane Milton caused in Florida are all over the internet. After making landfall on Wednesday, the Category 3 hurricane was reduced to a Category 2 storm. It caused severe damage to heavily populated cities along Florida’s Gulf Coast, such as Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, and Fort Myers, with gusts exceeding 100 mph and a potentially fatal storm surge.
Where it was originally predicted to hit, roughly 70 miles south of Tampa, on Siesta Key in Sarasota, is where Milton ultimately made landfall. However, the Tampa area was still severely hit; the Associated Press reports that St. Petersburg received almost 16 inches of rain.
BREAKING HURRICANE MILTON- ST PETERSBURG
St. Petersburg has received an insane amount of rain — over 16" in last 24 hours… but notably:
5.09" fell between 8 and 9p alone, a 1-in-1,000 yr amount
Flash flood emergency for Tampa Bay area until 230a.
Some of the 24-hour rainfall… pic.twitter.com/3XLuaDnvIZ— Conlustro Research (@ConlustroR) October 10, 2024
Videos that Conlustro Research shared on X, a platform that was previously Twitter, show the city being battered by torrential rain. The strength of the wind is evident in the way that trees and street lighting are being thrown back and forth.
Hurricane Milton has caused a tower crane to collapse in downtown St Petersburg.
The crane landed on the Tampa Bay Times building. pic.twitter.com/yUgAYP3RLa
— Matt Dursh (@MattDursh) October 10, 2024
Another image was posted on social media by engineer Matt Dursh, who claimed to be the owner of the Tampa Bay Times building. It shows a crane that has crashed into the structure.
This is the construction crane that collapsed and fell into the Tampa Bay Times building. The damage to the building is catastrophic collapsing multiply floors. The water lines broke flooding the building. #flwx #HurricaneMilton #SaintPetersburg pic.twitter.com/4gyh8HQtsF
— Jeff Piotrowski (@Jeff_Piotrowski) October 10, 2024
Storm chaser Jeff Piotrowski shared a picture of the same scenario, showing the “catastrophic” destruction from below. Senior national journalist for NewsNation Brian Entin posted footage of the water being “sucked out of Tampa Bay by Milton.”
In the meantime, pictures of Tropicana Field, the Tampa Bay Rays’ baseball stadium in St. Petersburg, showed sections of the roof torn off and flying in the wind.
The water has been sucked out of Tampa Bay by Milton.
Happened fast. pic.twitter.com/8ghtF5SZYx— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) October 10, 2024
“OMG. When we realized this was from our reporter, we all let out a collective gasp. The Tropicana Field roof’s fabric is torn,” meteorologist Jason Adams of Tampa’s WFTS station said on X, attaching a video.
Although the exact number of deaths at the Spanish Lakes Country Club in Fort Pierce is still unknown, reports of them have been made.
Before Milton ever reached land, tornadoes were tearing across sections of Florida, destroying around 125 homes—many of them senior citizen mobile homes—according to Kevin Guthrie, head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
OMG. We all had a collected gasp when we saw this from our reporter. The fabric on the roof of Tropicana Field is shredded. #StPete #Milton pic.twitter.com/36UKLO9cK6
— Jason Adams (@JasonAdamsWFTS) October 10, 2024
By late Wednesday, PowerOutages.us reported that over 3 million Florida households and businesses were without electricity.
People have been alerted about the possibility of catastrophic storm surges, hurricane-force winds, particularly while gusting, and intense rain.
Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for at least 15 counties in Florida, impacting over 7.2 million people overall.
9,000 National Guard members from Florida and other states have been deployed, along with over 50,000 utility workers and highway patrol cars positioned to escort gasoline tankers to ensure there is gas available for people evacuating, according to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis during a news conference in Tallahassee.
“Sadly, there will be some who die. There’s no getting around it, in my opinion,” he said.
In the days leading up to Hurricane Milton on Wednesday, a Lee County Sheriff’s deputy walks the streets of Cape Coral, Florida. Florida is in a state of turmoil and devastation due to Hurricane Milton.
Milton drew strength from the warm seas of the Gulf of Mexico and twice achieved Category 5 classification before weakening.
“The intensity guidance and the relatively fast forward speed of Milton indicate that the system will maintain hurricane intensity while crossing Florida,” according to the National Weather Service.
Milton is predicted by forecasters to “gradually spin down over the Atlantic, dissipating after 96 hours.”
