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CV NEWS FEED // Hurricane Milton tore across the Florida peninsula Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, causing widespread and significant property damage, storm surges, pervasive power outages, and a series of deadly tornadoes.
The death toll from Milton continues to rise even after the storm finally exited the state and ventured into the Atlantic Ocean.
However, the then-Category 3 hurricane made landfall several dozen miles south of where it was previously projected to strike – therefore averting the worst possible outcome for many Floridians living in the state’s heavily populated Tampa Bay area.
NBC News reported Thursday morning that Milton “wrought havoc across Florida, where it whipped up tornadoes, cut power for more than 3.3 million energy customers, put some 11 million people at risk of flooding and caused at least nine deaths.”
Fatalities occurred on both the state’s West Coast where the storm made landfall and the East Coast where Milton left for the sea.
“At least four deaths have been confirmed in St. Lucie County on the state’s Atlantic coast, where tornadoes touched down,” NBC’s report added. “At least two people were killed in St. Petersburg during the storm.”
NBC noted that there were also at least three fatalities in Volusia County on Florida’s East Coast.
>> WEDNESDAY NIGHT: MILTON MAKES LANDFALL ON FLORIDA’S WEST COAST <<
A Thursday-afternoon report by ABC-affiliated WPBF updated the death toll in St. Lucie County from tornadoes resulting from Milton to five.
“The fatalities were reported in the Spanish Lakes Country Club Village in northern Fort Pierce, in Lakewood Park,” WPBF reported. Spanish Lakes is a retirement community for residents aged 55 and older.
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis traveled to the South Florida county to survey the harrowing damage. There, he stated “I think there were probably more tornado watches on this storm than on any one I can remember.”
DeSantis wrote on X (formerly Twitter) Thursday afternoon: “We visited St. Lucie County to survey the damage from tornadoes caused by Hurricane Milton.”
“We’re grateful for the first responders who staged in the area and were ready to save lives,” he stressed:
So far, at least 25 people have been rescued from this tornado-damaged area. Search and rescue efforts are ongoing in storm-affected areas throughout Florida. These lifesaving operations will continue for as long as it takes.
The storm’s sheer power was enough to dismantle much of the massive roof of Tropicana Field – a multi-purpose stadium in St. Petersburg with a seating capacity of over 42,000.
“Video posted on Wednesday night showed portions of the stadium’s roof blowing in the wind,” reported FOX 13 Tampa Bay. “Drone footage later showed that most of the stadium’s roof panels were indeed torn off during the storm, which brought wind gusts of 101 mph to the city.”
FOX 13 added that the stadium, known for hosting home games of the Tampa Bay Rays Major League Baseball team, “was set to serve as the home base for thousands of emergency responders who set up camp ahead of Hurricane Milton.”
>> TUESDAY: HARRIS’ ATTACK ON DESANTIS BACKFIRES AS MILTON APPROACHES <<
In a Thursday morning briefing, DeSantis said: “What we can say is the storm was significant. But thankfully, this was not the worst case scenario.”
“The storm did weaken before landfall,” he pointed out. “And the storm surge, as initially reported, has not been as significant overall as what was observed for Hurricane Helene.”
DeSantis indicated that Sarasota County, the West Coast Florida county where Milton made landfall, appeared to have had “the most significant storm surge, likely somewhere between eight to ten feet.”
“And remember, with Helene we had 15 to 20 feet up in Taylor County,” he added.
During a Thursday morning CNBC appearance, DeSantis discussed the immediate aftermath of Milton’s arrival.
“We’ve been doing rescues all throughout the night,” the governor told host Joe Kernen. “We’ve had a lot of successful rescues.”
“This storm did spin off a lot of tornadoes,” the governor said during the interview, noting that fatal tornadoes happened “all the way on the East Coast of Florida,” hundreds of miles from where Milton made landfall.
>> MONDAY: MILTON INTENSIFIES TO CATEGORY 5 <<
DeSantis also reiterated that “the worst case scenario” of the extent of the storm’s destruction was likely averted. The feared scenario of Milton making landfall “right into the Tampa Bay area” would probably have been “the most costly because it’s so vulnerable to storm surge,” he explained.
“I think what happened on this storm is that, I think, the track was a little south of Tampa,” he continued. “The storm did weaken. [Category] 3 is still a big storm, but it weakened from where it was.”
“And so you ended up having the water get sucked out of Tampa Bay rather than have the 10-to-15-feet of surge in Pinellas County in the Tampa Bay area,” DeSantis summarized. “So, in that sense, we did not have this much surge overall than we did with Hurricane Helene just a couple of weeks ago.”
As late as Tuesday, while Milton was making its way toward Florida in the Gulf of Mexico, the storm was a Category 5 hurricane.
CBS News noted that Milton made history as the fastest documented hurricane “to intensify into Category 5” while in the Gulf.
