Hurricane Milton inundates Florida with dangerous flooding after landfall
What we’re covering here
• Milton hits Florida: Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, as a dangerous Category 3 storm before weakening to a Category 1 as it moves over the state, according to the National Hurricane Center. It is the fifth hurricane to make landfall in the US this year. You can track Milton’s path with CNN’s storm tracker.
• A thousand-year flood: Milton has dropped about 16 inches of rain on St. Petersburg, representing a more than a 1-in-1000 year rainfall for the area. Meanwhile, there are “multiple fatalities” in St. Lucie County, Florida, from a tornado outbreak earlier in the day, CNN affiliate WPTV reports.
• Devastating effects: Milton, the third hurricane to hit Florida this year, has knocked out power for more than 2 million people in the state. Additionally, wind gusts of 100 mph were recorded near Tampa, where a flash flood emergency was issued and emergency services have been halted.
Are you in Milton’s path? Bookmark CNN’s lite site for fast connectivity. Sigue nuestra cobertura del huracán en español.
Orlando police and fire crews are back on the road after sheltering during worst of the storm
Orlando’s police and fire department personnel are back on the road to respond to calls for service after briefly taking shelter due to powerful wind speeds overnight, the city of Orlando announced.
However, residents should continue to shelter in place and only call 911 in cases of emergency, the city said.
For less urgent reports, such as damage and downed trees, people can call the city’s Citizen Info Line.
Residents rescued from homes in waist-deep water in Pinellas County, NWS says
Some residents in Pinellas County were rescued from floodwaters as high as their waists after Hurricane Milton passed through the area.
Jennifer Hubbard, warning coordinator meteorologist for the National Weather Service, told CNN’s Erica Hill on Thursday morning that some areas will see continued rain and frequent wind gusts as Milton pushes off the east coast on Thursday morning.
“It’s going to be awhile with all of the water that fell from the sky today that we’re going to be dealing with through at least next week,” Hubbard said.
Water rescues took place in Pinellas County throughout the night as there were reports of residents being waist-deep in water in their homes, according to Hubbard. She did not have an exact number of people rescued.
NWS is expecting “moderate to major” river flooding throughout the week as a result of the significant rainfall from the storm.
Pinellas County is on the west coast of Florida and is home to St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Dunedin.
Watch: Floodwaters engulf Fort Myers on Wednesday night
On Wednesday evening, LeeAnn Golson watched as the floodwater that had engulfed Fort Myers receded – and feared it meant the worst had yet to come.
“We were underwater and now the streets are dry, it’s really eerie for what’s to come,” said Golson, who runs LeeAnn’s Paradise Vacation Rentals at Fort Myers beach.
Videos shared by Golson show houses half-submerged and the entire street flooded, with palm trees whipping furiously in the strong wind.
Golson stayed behind despite evacuation orders in Lee County, and said the power has been out for the past 3 to 4 hours.
“[Hurricane] Ian was the absolute worst and I pray to God this is not that,” she said.
Watch the video:
At least 27 tornadoes were reported across Florida on Wednesday
At least 27 tornadoes were reported in Florida on Wednesday as Hurricane Milton loomed over the state, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
The NWS is still working to confirm all of the reports, an activity that will take some time due to storm conditions.
Cumulatively, more than 125 tornado warnings were issued Wednesday by NWS offices in Tampa Bay, Melbourne and Miami. This is the most tornado warnings ever issued in a single day for the state of Florida, crushing the previous record of 69 set on September 10, 2017 (during Hurricane Irma).
A tornado in St. Lucie County proved deadly for some residents of a mobile home retirement community, county sheriff Keith Pearson told CNN. The sheriff declined to provide an exact number of deaths, but said it was “more than one person.”
Ultimately, hundreds of homes were “completely totaled” by tornadoes in the county, Pearson said. And that was before Milton had even arrived.
