Hurricane Milton roared through central Florida today after making landfall on the state’s west coast a few hours earlier, spawning deadly tornadoes, destroying homes and knocking out power to nearly two million consumers.
The storm made landfall last night around 8:30 p.m. as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 195 km/h) near Siesta Key, the US National Hurricane Center said.
By 11 p.m., winds had dropped to 100 mph (165 km/h), making Milton a Category 2 hurricane, still considered extremely dangerous. The center of the storm was 120 km southwest of Orlando in the center of the state.
A flood emergency was in effect for the Tampa Bay area, including the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, the hurricane center said, and St. Petersburg already received 422 mm of rain on Wednesday.
The eye of the storm made landfall in Siesta Key, a barrier island town of some 5,400 off Sarasota, about 100 kilometers south of the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, home to more than three million people.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said he hoped Tampa Bay, once considered the potential eye of the storm, could avoid major damage. Forecasters said sea levels could still rise by up to four meters.
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