Florida's glittering skyline turns into a wasteland after historic Hurricane Milton, death toll continues to rise
Hurricane Milton, the most powerful storm on the planet in 2024, weakened as it made landfall but still brought damaging winds and widespread flooding. It also veered slightly south of Tampa Bay instead of hitting it head-on, sparing the densely populated area from a potentially devastating wave. The storm flooded and flattened several communities, but so far the death toll has been lower than feared.
At least 14 people were killed in the storm, which made landfall south of Sarasota at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, officials said. Six of them were killed when two tornadoes touched down ahead of the storm in St. Lucie County on Florida’s central Atlantic coast.
The storm ripped the fiberglass roof off a baseball stadium and sent a construction crane crashing into a high-rise in St. Petersburg. It destroyed homes and flooded roads across a wide swath of Florida. About 3 million people are without power after power lines were down.
A crane collapsed onto a building in St. Petersburg, Florida as Hurricane Milton swept through the state.
A destroyed home in St. Pete Beach, Florida, after Hurricane Milton.
Workers collect some of their belongings from a beauty salon destroyed by a tornado caused by Hurricane Milton in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
On the state’s west coast, more than 700 people stranded by flooding were rescued Thursday in just one county, Hillsborough. Residents who had evacuated ahead of the storm after being begged by local officials to leave ventured back home as roads and bridges reopened, navigating downed power lines, fallen trees and debris.
A car drove under a leaning tree in Bradenton on Thursday.
Before and after images of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, where Hurricane Milton devastated the stadium on October 10. The Tampa Bay Rays' stadium is the world's second largest cable-supported dome.
Still, authorities fear the storm could cause more catastrophic impacts, especially along the state's west-central coast, an area also hit by Helene on September 26.
"Thankfully this is not the worst-case scenario," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a press conference Thursday morning.
