Hurricane Milton makes landfall near Sarasota. Two million are already without power

Hurricane Milton made landfall on Siesta Key just before 8:30 pm Wednesday evening as the Category 3 storm continued lashing the Gulf Coast with heavy rains, whipping winds while spinning off a string of tornadoes across much of the peninsula.

Milton’s eye had been pushing ashore for hours before the National Hurricane Center made the official landfall call on the barrier island along the coast of Sarasota County.

The hurricane came in just south of Tampa Bay, potentially sparing the heavily populated and vulnerable region from the worst flooding. But Tampa Bay and much of the Gulf Coast still faced whopping 120 mph sustained winds and higher gusts. And communities south of the landfall could see double-digit storm surge, including Fort Myers Beach and down to the Naples area.

As of 11 p.m., Milton had been downgraded to a Category 2 with 105 mph sustained winds. It was still moving briskly east-northeast at 16 mph through central Florida. The storm is about 75 miles southwest of Orlando.

Forecasters say Milton will remain a hurricane as it moves across Florida, eventually exiting the state and entering the Atlantic near the Space Coast on Thursday. Damaging and life-threatening hurricane-force winds are still spreading inland, accompanied by heavy rainfall and major flooding.

The bulk of its rain — up to 18 inches in the worst spots — is due to fall north of the eye’s path, drenching the already-soaked central Florida area.

A few more tornadoes are also possible early Thursday morning over parts of central and eastern Florida. A day earlier, tornadoes ravaged the southern end of the state, touching down in Fort Myers, Fort Pierce, Palm Beach Gardens, St. Lucie County, and even as far south as Broward County, where they ripped off roofs and razed buildings.

The National Weather Service issued about 100 tornado warnings in a six-hour span Wednesday.

As the powerful storm moved ashore, water levels rose in Tampa and near Naples, which saw similar levels of storm surge to Hurricane Helene before the sun had even set. By nightfall, Sarasota recorded at least 6 feet of storm surge. A steady drizzle flooded streets on the other coast, in St. Augustine.

By 11:40 p.m., about 2,000,000 residents and businesses were reported without power across the state. The most affected counties are Manatee, Sarasota and Hardee.

Gulf Coast battered by storm surge, winds

The full toll of Milton’s likely lethal surge won’t be clear until the sun rises, but it does appear that the worst-case scenario of a two-story building-level storm surge in the densely populated Tampa Bay was avoided.

Still, blistering winds have pounded the city, tearing off the roof of Tropicana Field, the arena for the Tampa Bay Rays that was being used to as a shelter for emergency responders. Elsewhere in the city, a crane collapsed into the Tampa Bay Times office building.

As predicted by the hurricane center, Milton’s eye came ashore just south of the mouth of the bay. A 40-mile jog would have been the difference between what is sure to be a catastrophic scenario for hundreds of thousands of people and a nightmare scenario.

With winds whipping the Gulf coast and pushing at least 6 feet of storm surge ashore, calls for help came pouring in.

“We will be ready to help people in harm’s way,” said Gov Ron DeSantis in a Wednesday evening press conference. “Hopefully there aren’t a lot.”

Because Milton came in earlier than initially expected, he noted rescues could begin in just a few hours.

“It means that pretty much all the rescues are going to be done in the dark,” he said. “That’s fine. Our folks are going to do it.

OFFICIALS READY FOR RECOVERY

Florida Power and Light President and CEO Armando Pimentel said Wednesday afternoon that the company had over 17,000 workers from over 40 states stationed and ready to help restore power when it was safe to do so. Some had already begun restoration in Southwest Florida in between Milton’s bands, he said.

“We anticipate a challenging environment restoring power,” Pimentel said.

Historically, he said, FPL has been able to provide estimated restoration times for counties across the state roughly 24 hours after the storm, and are prepared to do so again.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, in a Wednesday afternoon press conference, said that the state had 50,000 lineworkers from multiple states, including FPL’s force, ready to restore power in “the largest storm mobilization in the history of the state of Florida.”

Federal officials also said they’re in place and ready for Milton to strike.

The Biden administration has ordered 1,200 search and rescue personnel from FEMA, the Coast Guard and Defense Department to pre-position in the state to immediately respond to Milton — supplementing 1,000 who are already on the ground, the agency said. Around 20 million meal packets and 40 million liters of water have already been sent to the state in advance of landfall.

The emergency response agency also says that 60 high-water vehicles and helicopters, as well as 500 ambulances, have also been deployed.

Biden also directed the Pentagon “to be ready to provide active-duty service members to support Florida after the storm if Governor DeSantis requests that help,” a White House official told McClatchy and the Miami Herald.

A top aide to the president said the White House would be on an “all-night watch” as the storm progressed and that they expect to update the president throughout the evening. The president was briefed by his homeland security advisor on the storm’s initial impacts shortly after it made landfall.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said she plans to work side-by-side with DeSantis. A national team is directly embedded in the city of Tampa, “so we can have a seamless flow of communication as they are experiencing the impacts, and we can help provide the resources they need for those initial life-saving efforts,” Criswell said during a Wednesday news briefing.

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