Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida Wednesday night at first as a category three storm, weakening to a category one storm the following morning.
The storm landed onto Siesta Key near Sarasota with winds moving at near 160km/h speeds.
As of Thursday morning the National Hurricane Centre says that Milton is moving away off the east coast but is still producing damaging winds and heavy windfall.
The Tampa area saw over 400mm of rain, flooding streets and homes. The storm also left a trail of destruction in it’s path through St. Petersburg where the Tropicana Field stadium saw it’s fabric roof ripped off from the winds.
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Rescue operations are underway for many parts of Florida’s Gulf Coast. Teams in the Tampa area are working to reopen the roadways blocked by fallen trees, power lines and other debris.
There are reports of multiple deaths in Saint Lucie county near Vero Beach at a retirement community.
More than three million homes and businesses are without power from the destructive storm with expectations that the number is likely to rise.
Several flights to Florida flying out of Toronto Pearson Airport have been cancelled due to the storm. Air Canada flights to Fort Myers, Orlando and Tampa will remain cancelled until at least Friday as they monitor the weather.
President Joe Biden posted on X Wednesday night that search and rescue teams will be positioned as close as possible to the storm to help with any life saving missions.
In preparation for tonight’s landfall, I have approved emergency declaration requests from the State and the Seminole Tribe of Florida. We have thousands of federal personnel on the ground. And we have staged 20 million meals and 40 million liters of water.
At my direction,… pic.twitter.com/AckE5bEw2m
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 10, 2024
