blackouts

More than 2.6 million people in Florida are without power after Milton made landfall Wednesday night as a powerful Category 3 hurricane, packing winds of 120 miles per hour and producing a series of tornadoes across the state.

As of early Thursday, about 2,678,392 customers in Florida were without power. More than a million of them are located in Hardee, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota counties, according to data from poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.

Milton hit a region of Florida still recovering from Hurricane Helene, which caused severe damage to coastal communities with storm surge and killed a dozen people in Pinellas County alone.

THIS IS HOW HURRICANE MILTON MADE LAND

The cyclone had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph when it made landfall at 8:30 p.m. near Siesta Key, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.

Siesta Key is a thriving stretch of white sand beaches home to 5,500 people about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Tampa. The Tampa Bay area hasn’t been hit directly by a major hurricane in more than a century, but the storm was still causing potentially deadly storm surge across much of Florida’s Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas like Tampa. , St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.

Heavy rain could also cause inland flooding along rivers and lakes as Milton crosses the Florida peninsula as a hurricane, eventually exiting the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday.

PREVENTION AND CALLS TO LEAVE SOME AREAS

Previously, officials issued dire warnings to evacuate or stay and face grim odds of survival.

“This is it, folks,” said Cathie Perkins, director of emergency management in Pinellas County, which is located on the peninsula that makes up Tampa Bay. “Those of you who were hit by Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.”

By late afternoon, some officials said the time for such efforts had passed. In the evening, some counties announced they had suspended emergency services.

“Unless you really have a good reason to leave at this time, we suggest you just shelter in place,” Polk County Emergency Management Director Paul Womble said in a public update.

Multiple tornadoes spawned by the hurricane devastated Florida, acting as dangerous harbingers of Milton’s arrival. Videos posted on social media sites showed large funnel-shaped clouds over neighborhoods in Palm Beach County and other parts of the state.

Milton was expected to remain a hurricane after making landfall and ravaging the entire state, including the densely populated Orlando area, through Thursday.

MILTON AFFECTS AREAS DEVASTATED BY HELENE

The storm threatened communities still recovering two weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded streets and homes in western Florida and left at least 230 people dead across the South. In many places along the coast, municipalities scrambled to collect and dispose of debris before Milton’s winds and storm surge could toss it around and compound the damage.

With the storm weaker but growing in size, storm surge was forecast to reach up to 9 feet (2.7 meters) in Tampa Bay.

Jackie Curnick said she struggled with her decision to stay and shelter in place at her home in Sarasota, just north of where the storm made landfall. But with a 2-year-old son and a daughter due Oct. 29, Curnick and her husband thought it was best.

Curnick said they started packing on Monday to vacate, but couldn’t find any available hotel rooms, and the few they did find were too expensive.

He said there were too many unanswered questions if they got in the car and left: where to sleep, whether they could fill the gas tank and whether they could find a safe route out of the state.

“The problem is that it is very difficult to evacuate on a peninsula,” he said. “In most other states, you can go in any direction to get out. In Florida, there are a limited number of roads that lead north or south.”

The famous Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which spans the mouth of Tampa Bay, closed around noon. Other major bridges also closed.

“Yesterday I said that time was moving forward. Today I say that the alarm is really ringing. People need to get to their safe place,” said Ken Graham, director of the National Weather Service.

STATE GOVERNMENT ACTIONS

At a news conference in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis described the deployment of a wide range of resources, including 9,000 National Guard members from Florida and other states.

Additionally, he said there is support from more than 50,000 utility workers from as far away as California and highway patrol cars with sirens to escort gasoline tankers to replenish supplies so people could fill their cars. tanks before evacuating.

“Unfortunately, there will be deaths. I don’t think there’s any way around it,” DeSantis said.