ShareBiden tells Trump to ‘get a life’ and ‘help these people’ impacted by Milton
President Biden gave an update on the federal government’s response to Hurricane Milton, assuring he and Vice President Harris were in “constant contact” with state and local leaders. The president also continued to criticize those spreading “misinformation and lies” about the response efforts to this storm and Helene.
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Multiple bridges in the Tampa area have reopened today after their closures yesterday when Hurricane Milton swept through the region.
The Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Howard Frankland Bridge and the Gandy Bridge have reopened, according to Sgt. Steve Gaskins with the Florida Highway Patrol.
The Courtney Campbell Causeway also reopened, Gaskins said.
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The Tampa Bay Rays said they’re in no hurry to determine to damage to their ballpark, Tropicana Field, inflicted by Hurricane Milton.
Nearly all the panels were blown off the domed stadium’s roof last night or this morning as the storm passed through.
“Our priority is supporting our community and our staff. We are fortunate and grateful that no one was hurt by the damage to our ballpark last night,” the team said in a statement this afternoon.
“Over the coming days and weeks, we expect to be able to assess the true condition of Tropicana Field. In the meantime, we are working with law enforcement to secure the building.”
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The storm-related death toll from Milton in Florida has reached 11, according to a count by NBC News.
The most recent confirmed death occurred when a tree fell on a vehicle in Citrus County, killing the driver.
Pinellas County had two fatalities, Volusia County experienced three and St. Lucie County saw five, four of which were caused by tornadoes.
Milton is now classified as a post-tropical cyclone, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The NHC says tropical storm conditions and storm surge are still occurring over portions of the southeastern U.S. coast.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said this afternoon there were some 3.4 million people with power outages, with an additional 700,000 having been restored since the storm.
DeSantis said “we’re probably in the hundreds of rescues statewide so far” but that number was much lower than during Helene,where he estimated that in the first 24 to 36 hours “there were probably thousands of rescues.
More than 80,000 people had stayed in shelters during the storm, he said.
Rescue teams at a flooded apartment complex today in Clearwater, Florida, searched for those in need.
At least 10 fatalities have been reported throughout Florida after Hurricane Milton made landfall as a Category 3 storm last night near Siesta Key. Five were the result of tornadoes in St. Lucie County, two were storm-related in St. Petersburg, and the Volusia County Sheriff reported three fatalities in his jurisdiction.
Here are some ways to help those affected.
National support
The following national organizations are accepting donations to help affected areas, some of which were already struggling with devastation from Hurricane Helene.
American Red Cross: The American Red Cross is opening and supporting shelters for people who have evacuated their homes. Make a financial donation or an appointment to give blood by visiting its website.
Salvation Army: The Salvation Army is providing relief, food service and emotional and spiritual care. You can make a donation online by visiting its website.
Read the full story here.
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The Hillsborough County sheriff’s office released a video showing the rescue of a 14-year-old boy who was found partially submerged in flood waters and floating on debris by Sheriff Chad Chronister and the sheriff’s office Marine Unit. The post doesn’t share the location of the rescue.
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There were at least 10 storm-related deaths in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton across Florida, according to officials, as the full extent of the damage was still to be determined.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said this afternoon that five people were killed in tornadoes in St. Lucie County, up from the four confirmed earlier this morning, bringing the new total of deaths around the state to 10.
Pinellas County has lifted the mandatory evacuation order issued before Hurricane Milton, but is asking residents to avoid unnecessary travel.
Bridges to the barrier islands have reopened, but the county says that many locations may not have power and/or water and many roads have not yet been cleared of debris or other hazards.
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Reporting from TAMPA, Florida
TAMPA BAY – Driving around the Tampa Bay area this morning was like playing Whac-A-Mole: working traffic lights are hit or miss. Parking lots have become makeshift backroads, as downed power lines pose danger to main highways. Remnants of palm trees are just about everywhere.
Police have also blocked access to roads leading to areas of the city that were under mandatory evacuation — including major highway Interstate 275 — causing heavy amounts of traffic throughout whichever roads did remain open.
Hurricane 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.
Milton was moving into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday morning after making landfall the previous evening as a Category 3 storm in Siesta Key, roughly 70 miles south of Tampa.
At least four deaths have been confirmed in St. Lucie County on the state’s Atlantic coast, where tornadoes touched down. At least two people were killed in St. Petersburg during the storm, police said. At least three people died in Volusia County, according to the sheriff.
Photos and videos showed homes submerged in murky floodwaters, residents attempting to evacuate on small boats, roads shredded to pieces and debris scattered in all directions.
Read the full story here.
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St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said this morning that while it was “spared the brunt of the storm surge in this storm,” the city still has “serious issues” to address.
Milton brought about 18 inches of rain and some localized flooding as well as damage to the city’s drinking water systems, infrastructure and power, Welch said, adding, “we’re actively working to restore those services to residents as quickly as we can.”
He said there were about 400,000 people in Pinellas County without power this morning and “we just need everyone to be patient right now due to the impact and the number of outages that we are dealing with.”
“This was an unprecedented storm with very high winds. The damage to the power system is more severe this time around,” he said.
At least nine people have been killed in Hurricane Milton, officials said, with the grim count ticking up as rescuers dig through the damage.
The latest death toll comes after Volusia County Sheriff Michael J. Chitwood confirmed that three people had died in the county.
“One person died after a tree fell,” Chitwood said, adding that details of the other two deaths weren’t known yet.
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Yachts, sailboats and other vessels are seen tossed onto land in the aftermath of the storm.
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NBC News has confirmed six storm-related fatalities in Florida following Hurricane Milton.
Two occurred in St. Petersburg, and four were a result of yesterday’s tornadoes in St. Lucie County.
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St. Petersburg police said there were two storm-related deaths in the city following Hurricane Milton.
One death was a “medical” incident and the other “was someone that was found in a park” with a cause of death pending, St. Petersburg Chief of Police Anthony Holloway said during a news conference this morning.
This brings the number of confirmed fatalities relating to Milton up to six.
Sunshine State authorities begged residents not to cut any lines they might see during a post-Milton cleanup efforts.
“Do not cut any lines again. Again, we do not need Florida man and Florida woman out there cutting random lines as they go,” Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie told reporters.
“You don’t know what is a cable line. You don’t know what is an electrical line and, probably more importantly these days, you don’t know what is a fiber optic line. Most of our 911 lines run across fiber optic. We do not want anybody cutting lines. Let the professionals come in here and identify what it is before it’s cut.”
“Florida man” has become a modern euphemism for a Sunshine State resident who acts oddly or irrationally — and often against self-interest.
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Biden advised those affected by Milton to stay indoors and off the roads, adding “help is on the way” in a post on X.
He also said that downed power lines, debris and road washouts are creating dangerous conditions, advising affected Floridians to shelter in place until local officials say it’s safe to go out.
The president spoke to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis this morning about the impact of Milton on the people of Florida, according to the White House.
He will continue to be briefed about the federal response and recovery efforts in the wake of both Milton and Helene throughout the day, they said.
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The city of Tampa is not experiencing extensive injuries or any deaths following Hurricane Milton, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said in a press conference.
She added that while there is extensive flooding in some areas, the damage is not at the same level as it was following Hurricane Helene.
About half a million homes are currently out of power, the mayor said, but she believes those will get back up.
She also applauded her constituents for following evacuation orders.
“I really think it’s due to Hurricane Helene,” she said. “When people get to see firsthand the power of Mother Nature, it’s very impactful, literally and figuratively. And so I think that people heeded that warning and got out and were able to stay safe.”
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More than 3,000 flights have been canceled and delayed as many airports throughout Florida were completely shut down because of Milton, causing a ripple effect across the country. NBC’s Tom Costello reports for “TODAY.”
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The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that as of 8:45 a.m. today, “access to Pinellas County, including the barrier islands, is now open.”
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Aerial Recovery, a nonprofit organization that supported hurricane relief efforts in Asheville, North Carolina, after Hurricane Helene, has now made its way down to Florida to assist with Hurricane Milton relief efforts. Co-founder Jeremy Locke joins “TODAY” to detail the extensive damage its members are seeing and the rescues that are underway.
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NBC News’ Dylan Dreyer speaks about her experience being in the eye of the storm as Hurricane Milton struck Bradenton, Fla. Dreyer described it as going from “bad to calm to worse,” adding that the tail end of the storm hit with ferocious winds and residents will now be looking to assess the damage.
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Reporting from SARASOTA, Florida
As Hurricane Milton was moving through Florida, NBC News’ team had to quickly take cover during a live report because of dangerous conditions after a nearby transformer blew up.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told CNBC this morning that he anticipated there were going to be confirmed fatalities after Hurricane Milton “did spin off a lot of tornadoes.”
“We anticipate there’s going to be confirmed casualties on the tornadoes, and that was all the way on the east coast of Florida,” he said.
DeSantis said teams have been doing rescues throughout the night.
More than 3 million people were without power, the governor said this morning.
DeSantis added that Milton produced storm surge “in places like Daytona Beach and Sint Augustine, and then even in the heart of Florida, like Orlando, there was so much rain on the northern side of this storm that we are having some flooding events.”
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Hurricane Milton’s powerful winds overnight severely damaged the roof of the Tampa Bay Rays’ home ballpark, Tropicana Field, which had been set for use by workers responding to the storm.
Overhead television and still images of the domed stadium in St. Petersburg showed massive swaths of its paneled roof were torn off by 100-plus mph winds.
The stadium’s playing field and stands could be seen in that overheard footage, through where panels once were. It wasn’t immediately clear if the stadium’s interior suffered any major damage.
Read the full story here.
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More than 3 million in Florida are without power, according to PowerOutage.us. On a county level, many are more than 50% without power, according to Whisker Labs sensor data.
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As a Fort Meyers resident went to get in his car, an alligator emerged from the hurricane floodwaters.
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A raft of warnings and alerts were lifted or downgraded as Hurricane Milton moved out to sea this morning, the National Hurricane Center said in a 8 a.m. ET update.
The hurricane warning south of Sebastian Inlet and north of the Flagler-Volusia county line had been downgraded to a tropical storm warning.The storm surge warning along Florida’s west coast has now ended.The tropical storm warning south of Palm Beach-Martin County has also ended.
Some warnings are still in place, however:
A storm surge warning still covers Sebastian Inlet, Florida, to Altamaha Sound, GeorgiaA hurricane warning is in place from Sebastian Inlet north to the Flagler-Volusia county line.A tropical storm warning is in place for Florida’s east coast south of Sebastian Inlet to the Palm Beach-Martin county line, as well as for the coastline north of the Flagler-Volusia county line to Edisto Beach, South Carolina.Share
Video shared online by the Orange County Fire Rescue showed firefighters wading through water caused by heavy flooding in the early hours of today as they checked on residents affected by the flooding.
In the video, rescuers can be seen moving through waters that at one point reach almost the waist as heavy winds can be heard blowing in the background.
The fire rescue said crews were checking “every house in the area” to assist residents impacted by the heavy flooding.
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The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said this morning it was out cutting trees to reopen some of the roadways following the peak of the storm in the area.
“There are downed power lines and trees everywhere,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a post on social media this morning.
The sheriff’s department shared images and videos on social media of its teams beginning rescue operations and responding to flooding and downed trees.
More than 3 million people across Florida are without power this morning.
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Following Hurricane Milton’s landfall in Florida, Bradenton Police Chief Melanie Bevan spoke about the effects of the storm and said that “probably” more than 60% of the city has no electricity.
Bevan also warned residents about the dangers caused by downed power lines even after the storm has passed.
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Video shared online by the Tampa Police Department shows officers evacuating 15 people, including children, from a home in the midst of Hurricane Milton after a tree was reported to have hit the residence.
Police said officers who were also sheltering from the storm made their way to the single-story home after receiving a 911 call saying a tree had crashed into the building.
In the video, police can be seen helping lead people out of the home and into police vehicles amid heavy rains. The officers were able to get everyone out of the home safely, with residents transported to the nearest shelter, Tampa Police said.
“The swift actions taken by these officers during a break in the storm bands provided this family with a sense of safety in a time of fear and uncertainty,” Chief Lee Bercaw said in a statement.
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St. Lucie County said this morning that four deaths were confirmed as a result of tornadoes that touched down in the area yesterday.
The county said in a statement that first responders and utility crews were conducting response and recovery efforts after two confirmed tornadoes touched down yesterday beginning at around 4:30 p.m. The St. Lucie Medical Examiner confirmed four fatalities as a result of these tornadoes, the statement said.
“Numerous homes and structures across St. Lucie County, including the City of Port St. Lucie and unincorporated areas, suffered significant damage,” the county said.
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Tampa officials said this morning that the city received more than one hundred emergency calls, including fires, trees falling on homes, downed power lines, minor medical calls and fire alarms.
Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said at a news conference this morning that police were dispatched to a call where 15 people were rescued after a “tree had fell on the house and water was coming in the house.”
Bercaw said police rescued 15 people, “including young children,” and took them to a local school shelter.
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Hurricane Milton continued its destructive path eastwards across Florida, drenching a neighborhood in Daytona Beach as it headed out over the Atlantic.
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Tampa suffered “extensive damage” as a result of Hurricane Milton, including downed trees and half a million people without power, the city’s mayor said early this morning.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor urged residents to stay inside until city officials could go out and assess the damage and make sure it was safe for people.
She said during a news conference this morning the fact that Tampa didn’t see the predicted storm surge, “saved a lot, that’s what we were really worried about,” but added that the risk of flooding was not over.
“At 7 a.m. when high tide comes in, rivers are going to flood all over Hillsborough County, not just in the city of Tampa,” she said.
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Some 3.25 million energy customers across central Florida are in the dark this morning in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, according to PowerOutage.us.
The storm made its way across the state as a Category 1 hurricane and forecasters warned in advance that disruption to power networks could potentially take weeks to fix.
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A displaced boat at Marina Jack in Sarasota, Florida, this morning following the arrival of Hurricane Milton. Debris from palm trees lined the streets after high winds, brought on by Milton, arrived in the region overnight.
Several tornadoes are confirmed to have developed yesterday in connection with Milton, the National Weather Service has said.
At least five out of seven reported tornadoes had been confirmed via photographic or video evidence, NWS Miami said in a post on X this morning as it shared a graphic showing preliminary tornado tracks.
Deaths were confirmed in St. Lucie County on Florida’s Atlantic coast, where officials said tornadoes touched down. Meanwhile, at least five people had to be taken to hospitals for medical treatment after the Palm Beach County Fire Rescue responded to reports of tornadoes and people trapped because of the storm’s impacts.
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Hurricane Milton has kept residents up through the night into the early hours of today, with one resident saying the storm has brought “some of the roughest winds and gusts of rain” they’ve ever seen in a hurricane cycle.
“Hurricane Milton has been one of the more intense storms I’ve experienced as a Florida resident,” said Brian Martin, 22, from the city of Casselberry, Seminole County.
“Several trees in my area are at risk of falling due to the changes in wind direction and I have heard and seen several power transformers blow and several people in my neighborhood are without power and will be for several days,” he said in a message sent on X. “Thankfully I have not lost power yet, and have been able to keep tabs on the storm’s unpredictable state.”
Martin said he feared he could lose power at “any moment,” with the power starting to flicker only moments after he sent the message. He said he had been unable to sleep through much of the night because of the storm as he sought to stay updated on its movements, while also keeping “tabs on my friends and family throughout the state.”
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Hurricane Milton’s ferocious winds and torrential rain have caused widespread damage in Florida. In St. Petersburg, a construction crane was toppled, sending debris into the street.
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All hurricane and tropical storm warnings have been lifted for the west coast of Florida as Milton moves off its east coast, the National Hurricane Service said in its 5 a.m. ET update.
Milton was still producing damaging hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall in east-central Florida, the agency said.
But it said a tropical storm warning for all of the Florida Keys and from the Palm Beach-Broward county line southward had been discontinued, along with a hurricane watch for Martin County and Lake Okeechobee.
Meanwhile, a storm surge warning was lifted from Anclote River to the middle of Longboat Key, including Tampa Bay, with a storm surge warning also called off from Bonita Beach to Flamingo.
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An aerial view of Tropicana Field’s shredded roof in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, in the wake of Hurricane Milton early this morning.
Emergency services across Florida are beginning to emerge from sheltering as Milton passed over.
The Orlando Police Department and the Orlando Fire Department both said they were “back on the road” in an update on X.
The Pasco County Fire Rescue has fully resumed operations, the county’s public information officer said on X, while warning that there would be delays.
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Reporting from FORT MYERS, Florida
Hurricane Milton continues to bring powerful winds and the risk of deadly flash flooding as it moves across central Florida. More than 3 million customers are without power. NBC News’ Jay Gray reports from Fort Myers on the latest details.
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FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell confirmed this morning that more than 70,000 people took refuge in government shelters overnight, after 31 counties issued evacuation orders.
Although the storm has weakened and is slowly moving toward the Atlantic, she told BBC radio that the threat had not yet passed.
“The wind, even though it’s decreasing, the threats are not decreasing,” she said.
“With the increased amount of rain, with the threat of flash flooding happening, you need to stay put. Don’t go out, try to make sure you’re as safe as possible.”
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Hurricane Milton continues to produce strong winds across the east coast of Florida, as its center nears Cape Canaveral, the National Hurricane Center said in a 4 a.m. ET update.
Strong winds were reported to have spread along Florida’s east coast as the center of Milton advanced toward Cape Canaveral, it said. Around 4 a.m., the center of the storm was about 10 miles northwest of the cape in Brevard County.
Sustained winds as high as 83 mph, with a gust of up to 92 mph, were reported at a weather station in Marineland, it said.
The hurricane center said its 4 a.m. post would be its final hourly position update for Milton since the center of the hurricane was expected to move offshore of the east coast of Florida. The next full forecast advisory will be published at 5 a.m. ET.
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At least five people had to be taken to hospitals for medical treatment after Palm Beach County firefighters responded to multiple reports of tornadoes and people trapped in the Wellington, Acreage and Loxahatchee areas yesterday, officials said.
The five people, including three trauma patients, were transported to hospitals, while others with minor injuries were treated on the ground.
Fire crews, meanwhile, reported seeing several damaged homes, as well as vehicles that had been “picked up and moved” by heavy winds. The fire rescue warned residents to stay off the roads in these areas as there was still “a lot of debris,” rendering some roads impassable, while it also issued a reminder to never touch downed power lines.
The Palm Beach County Fire Rescue said it started receiving 911 calls just before 5 p.m. ET yesterday, with the calls continuing to pour in for more than 50 minutes.
At least 40 units were sent to hard-hit communities, while the tornado was still circulating, the fire service. Firefighters were able to locate and rescue several people from damaged structures and cars, with some trapped under rubble or stuck in vehicles that had been overturned by heavy winds, including an RV.
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A vehicle is stranded on a flooded street after Hurricane Milton made landfall in Brandon last night.
More than 3 million energy customers are now without power in the hours after Hurricane Milton made landfall, according to PowerOutage.us, meaning more than a quarter of the energy connections tracked by that site are currently down.
Among the worst hit areas are coastal counties including Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota, as well as inland Hardee County where almost all the 9,600 tracked energy connections are down.
Authorities have warned that connections could be down for weeks to come and both state and federal resources have already been deployed to assist in the recovery.
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A number of weather warnings remain in place for parts of Florida and surrounding areas as Milton continues to bring heavy rains and damaging winds.
A storm surge warning, which means there is a “danger of life-threatening inundation from rising water moving inland from the coastline,” is in effect for Florida’s west coast from Flamingo northward to Anclote River, including Charlotte Harbor and Tampa Bay, the National Hurricane Center and Central Pacific Hurricane Center said in their latest advisory.
A storm surge warning also remains in place from the Sebastian Inlet in Florida to Altamaha Sound further north in neighboring Georgia, including the St. Johns River.
Meanwhile, a hurricane warning is in effect for Florida’s west coast from Bonita Beach northward to the Suwannee River, including Tampa Bay, and for the Florida east coast from the St. Lucie/Martin County Line northward to Ponte Vedra Beach.
Tropical Storm Warnings are further in place for the Florida Keys, including the Dry Tortugas and Florida Bay and Lake Okeechobee, as well as for the Florida west coast from Flamingo to south of Bonita Beach and from north of the Suwanee River to Indian Pass.
The Florida east coast south of the St. Lucie/Martin County Line to Flamingo and north of Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida to Edisto Beach in South Carolina are also under warnings, along with the extreme northwestern Bahamas, including Grand Bahama Island, the Abacos and Bimini.
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Hurricane Milton brought torrential rainfall to portions of the north and east of Florida. It is expected to head out to sea again off the east coast early today. NBC News meteorologist Michelle Grossman has the very latest details on “Early TODAY.”
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The National Hurricane Center said in a 3 a.m. ET update that Milton’s sustained wind speeds had dropped to 85 mph, meaning it is still a Category 1 hurricane more than six hours after made landfall.
The storm was 45 miles east-southeast of Orlando at 3 a.m., it said, moving east-northeast at 16 mph. A gust of 81 mph was recorded at Daytona Beach International Airport.
Milton made landfall as a Category 3 storm at 8.30 p.m. yesterday near Siesta Key, Florida.
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The double impact of hurricanes Helene and Milton shows how towns and cities across Florida will have to prepare and adapt to a future of more frequent and powerful storms, the mayor of St. Petersburg said last night.
“This is just an example of our new normal, as storms become more powerful, they are moving more quickly and they’re really testing our infrastructure,” Ken Welch told “Alex Wagner Tonight” on MSNBC last night.
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“The pace of change that we’re seeing in the strength of these storms and the impact is really outweighing our capital investment, so we’ve got to look at our sewer plans, to waste water, to sea walls, all these things have to be improved at a rapid pace,” he said.
Welch said his city was “blessed” that Milton landed 50 miles north, but added that it was still feeling its severe effects. The city and Pinellas County asked about half a million people to evacuate and Welch said they had responded better than during Helene.
He said that the debris left over from Helene would have taken six months to remove and city workers were forced to do as much as they could in a few days.
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Megastar Taylor Swift gave a $5 million donation to the relief efforts for Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Feeding America announced yesterday.
“This contribution will help communities rebuild and recover, providing essential food, clean water, and supplies to people affected by these devastating storms,” the nonprofit organization said in a statement on social media. “Thank you, Taylor, for standing with us in the movement to end hunger and helping communities in need.”
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Security camera footage from a home in Manasota Key, Florida, shows an in-ground pool and backyard filled with floodwaters from Hurricane Milton.
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A tornado tore through a highway in Wellington, Florida, one of a number of tornadoes that touched down in the state ahead of Hurricane Milton making landfall.
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Hurricane Milton’s winds weakened to 90 mph early today, making it a Category 1 storm, but a flash flood emergency over parts of Florida continued, the National Hurricane Center said.
The center of the storm was around 40 miles south-southwest of Orlando, and it was moving east-northeast at around 16 mph as it crosses the state, the agency said in a 1 a.m. advisory.
The hurricane made landfall as a Category 3 storm near Siesta Key on Florida’s western coast, but by 1 a.m. damaging winds were starting to reach the state’s Atlantic coast, the hurricane center said.
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Orlando police officers and firefighters have been temporarily pulled from roads because of winds of over 40 mph, the city announced early Thursday.
“When the wind speed decreases they will be able to respond to calls for service. Residents should continue to shelter in place,” Orlando’s government said on X.
Hurricane Milton was around 60 miles south-southwest of Orlando as of midnight, the National Hurricane Center said in an update, and it was moving east-northeast at 16 mph.
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Hurricane Milton damaged the roof of Tropicana Field and caused a crane to collapse in St. Petersburg, the city confirmed.
Video posted to social media showed both incidents, with some of the roof of Tropicana Field seemingly ripped off. The crane collapsed at a construction site, the city said.
“No injuries have been reported in either incident at this time,” a spokesperson for the city said.
Video appeared to show roof damage at the stadium. “Indeed, they did lose some of the roof at the Tropicana,” Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Chief Jason Dougherty said on MSNBC early Thursday local time.
He said he didn’t know more details. Tampa is in Hillsborough County, and St. Petersburg is in adjacent Pinellas County. St. Petersburg recorded a wind speed of 101 mph at around 10:30 p.m., the National Weather Service in Tampa said.
A spokesperson for the Tampa Bay Rays said that “no first responders were being staged at Tropicana Field and the essential personnel that were there are all accounted for and safe.”
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President Biden has been briefed on the situation in Florida and Hurricane Milton’s initial impact in the state, the White House said.
Homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell updated Biden about the storm and its damage.
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Although it has weakened slightly since it made landfall, Milton is expected to retain hurricane intensity the entire time it travels across the Florida Peninsula, the National Hurricane Center said.
The hurricane was a Category 2 storm and was “bringing devastating rains and damaging winds” across parts of Florida at 11 p.m., the agency said in an advisory, after it made landfall on Florida’s western coast this evening.
The center of the storm was about 75 miles southwest of Orlando, with maximum sustained winds of around 105 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. It was traveling east-northeast at 16 mph.
The hurricane will cross the central part of Florida overnight into Thursday and then leave the state and enter the Atlantic on Thursday, the NHC said.
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The county where at least two people died in a tornado today is in “100% rescue mode” with members of the Florida National Guard and local law enforcement officers working on the ground to help victims, St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson said.
“We haven’t even seen the effects of Hurricane Milton yet,” he said. “Right now, we’re focused on, you know, no matter how the storm comes, we’re going to rescue as many people as we can.”
The sheriff’s department is focusing recovery efforts on a senior living community that was completely destroyed, Pearson added.
“There were cars lifted and flipped upside down, moved hundreds of yards,” he said. “I can tell you that there was nothing left to some of these places but foundations.”
Pearson estimates 100 residences were destroyed in the county after roughly 17 tornadoes touched down.
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Reporting from Daytona, Florida
In Daytona Beach, wind gusts are reaching 70 mph and debris is flying, with the worst of Milton yet to come.
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Video captured the moment strong winds and debris from Hurricane Milton shattered the window of a home. Gasps can be heard in the background as the glass cracks.
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Reporting from Tampa, Florida
Just when I thought the wind gusts from this storm could not get any stronger, I appear to have been proven wrong.
The intensity of Milton’s winds have been steadily growing in Tampa all evening. I doubt this will be the worst of it, unfortunately.
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Reports following tornadoes that touched down in Florida as Hurricane Milton approached the state suggest that more than 100 homes have been destroyed, a state emergency management official said.
Tornadoes that were confirmed by radar struck the state before the hurricane made landfall, and rescue teams responded to structural collapses, said Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the state Division of Emergency Management.
“We’re receiving somewhere in the neighborhood — this is really, really rough numbers right now — about 125 homes that have been destroyed, mostly mobile homes,” he said at a news conference.
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Across Florida, 1.6 million customers are in the dark, and this is where the power outages are, according to sensor data from Whisker Labs.
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Hurricane Milton’s maximum sustained winds dropped to 110 mph as it continued to move inland, the National Hurricane Center said in a 10 p.m. advisory.
That wind speed would make the hurricane on the high end of a Category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.
The Tampa Bay area, including Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, was under a flash flood emergency, the National Hurricane Center said. People there are urged to move to higher ground and to not drive through floodwaters.
The hurricane made landfall near Siesta Key as a Category 3 storm at around 8:30 p.m.
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Reporting from Fort Myers, Florida
Power outages have knocked out many of the lights in Fort Myers. The wind continues to whip as Milton passes over.
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Time-lapse video shows clouds and rain over Sarasota as Hurricane Milton approached the state.
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In St. Petersburg, 5 inches of rain fell in one hour, adding to the foot of rain that was dumped on the city in the last 24 hours. Catastrophic flooding will occur with the rain across the region.
Farther south, there is a storm surge.
Bradenton and St. Petersburg have recorded winds up to 96 mph, and in Sarasota, 90 mph winds were recorded. Wind destruction is also expected across the region.
What’s making this storm even more dangerous is that it will move east and traverse Florida in the next day. Normally, a storm will weaken over land, but because Florida is not that wide, it does not give the storm much opportunity to come down in terms of strength.
The potential for tornadoes remains on the outer bands of the storm as it moves across the state.
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Reporting from Sarasota, Florida
Wind speeds have picked to 102 mph in Sarasota. The tops of palm trees are being shredded and sent scattering into the dark. We heard metal scraping as it was ripped off its base.
Even from the inside of a parking garage several feet above sea level, our crews can see water on the street rising quickly.
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NBC News’ Tom Llamas and his team escaped strong gusts and rain from Hurricane Milton as it entered Sarasota.
While it was reporting out in the storm, the team had to rush inside as wind and rain became too powerful to bear, with Llamas saying a transformer exploded over them as the storm picked up.
NBC News meteorologist Angie Lassman explained what their crew experienced: first, a drop in pressure and extreme calm as the eye passed over the area. Once the eye passed, though, Llamas and his crew experienced the worst Milton has to offer.
The eye wall is where the strongest winds live, as evidenced by Llamas and his crew’s being blown from their location. But Lassman said that the crew is not in the worst of it and that conditions are even more aggressive a little farther north.
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The heavy rain, dangerous storm surges and catastrophic wind gusts meteorologists expected when Hurricane Milton made landfall are beginning to take shape, said Jamie Rhome, deputy director of the National Hurricane Center.
“All of the hazards that were predicted with this particular landfall are unfolding,” he said.
NOAA has already received a report of wind gust of over 102 mph and expects the peak storm surge to be 9 to 13 feet.
The agency is closely monitoring the Interstate 4 corridor that connects Tampa, Orlando and Daytona because of the dense population and expected hazardous conditions in the next several hours, Rhome said.
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A tornado that hit St. Lucie County this afternoon as Hurricane Milton approached the state killed multiple people, Sheriff Keith Pearson said.
The tornado touched down at 4:28 p.m. in the Spanish Lakes Country Club community in Fort Pierce, he said. A spokesperson for the St. Lucie Fire District said that there were two confirmed deaths and that multiple other people were taken to hospitals.
The effects of Milton triggered tornadoes across Florida as it approached the state’s Gulf Coast. There have been 19 confirmed tornado touchdowns statewide, Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
County Communications Director Erick Gill said that there were multiple tornadoes that hit the county. “We have multiple crews and agencies responding to this event, which is unfolding as we speak,” he said in a 6:15 p.m. update.
St. Lucie Board of Commissioners Vice Chair Chris Dzadovsky urged people to stay home because of the threat of tornadoes from Milton. St. Lucie County is on the Atlantic Coast.
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Reporting from Fort Meyers, Florida
A transformer blew out and the lights are flickering on and off in downtown Fort Myers as floodwaters begin to overtake the streets.
Storm surge is now the biggest concern for this area, especially when you factor in powerful sustained winds.
First responders have said they are unlikely to conduct rescues in the middle of the storm, which means anyone who did not evacuate will now have to wait out the hurricane.
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Reporting from Tampa, Florida
Nearly 100,000 people are in Florida’s evacuation centers tonight — nowhere near the state’s capacity, a top emergency management official said.
Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said roughly 220,000 beds were available across the state earlier today.
Although some counties reported their shelters were at capacity, Guthrie said, officials still said they had plenty of room left.
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At nearly every turn, Hurricane Milton has offered surprises.
What started as a small, tightly wound hurricane has grown into a sprawling monster that intensified at one of the fastest rates in recorded history. The storm threatens to send a dangerous surge of water to parts of both Florida’s west and east coasts, with the flood-prone metropolitan area of Tampa Bay — home to more than 3 million people — at particular risk.
As the storm developed, record warm seas in the Gulf of Mexico aided its intensification. Later, it grew in size as it underwent a process of eyewall replacement.
Here’s how Milton developed into such a significant threat.
Read the full story here.
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Intense wind and rain swirled around storm chaser Ben McMillan as he shouted over loud gusts live on NBC News in Bradenton, where Milton is raging.
He said significant storm surges were coming in from the bay as conditions quickly go downhill. He added that he is seeing power flashes in the distance.
“The last few moments have gotten extremely violent with the wind,” McMillan said. “It’s safe to say the storm is not over yet.”
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Reporting from Sarasota, Florida
About 160,000 customers don’t have power in Sarasota County, where emergency management officials are also closely tracking the storm surge.
Sarasota County Emergency Management Chief Sandra Tapfumaneyi said that much of the area experienced a storm surge of about 5 to 6 feet during Hurricane Helene and that anything more than that would be catastrophic for the area.
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The center of Milton was moving inland into Florida at 9 p.m. after the hurricane made landfall not far from Sarasota around a half-hour earlier, forecasters said.
The center of Milton, which made landfall as a Category 3 storm, was around 5 miles north of Sarasota, and it was moving east-northeast at 15 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
The storm’s maximum sustained wind speed was 115 mph, which makes it still a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.
Life-threatening storm surge, extreme winds and flash flooding continue as the hurricane moves inland, the National Hurricane Center said.
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Sarasota remains in the eye of the storm, where it has been eerily quiet for about 45 minutes.
I’ve covered a lot of hurricanes, and you forget how still it can get. Trees were knocked down earlier, and then suddenly it just stopped.
Some people have come out in their cars and out of their hotel rooms to look around when they should be sheltering in place. When we get to the back of the eye wall, it will be a very different story.
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People in the Sarasota area have been taking the threat of Hurricane Milton and its storm surge seriously after what happened with Hurricane Helene, the mayor said.
Helene flooded Florida’s Gulf Coast with storm surge before it made landfall in the Big Bend on Sept. 26. More than 240 people died in six states, including 25 in Florida.
“People after Helene realized that it really isn’t a joke to say that there’s going to be storm surge,” Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert said.
“Before that, we heard that all the time — I have to admit myself — but it never happened,” Alpert said. “But this time it happened. People saw what it could do and took this warning seriously.”
In Charlotte County, south of Sarasota, some past storms were mainly severe winds, Sheriff Bill Prummell said.
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With Helene, there were storm surge and flooding that severely damaged or destroyed more than 2,000 homes, he said, even though the center of that storm was 180 miles offshore when it passed.
“So I think once people realized that the storm surge was coming here and it was going to be probably three times what Helene was, they started to get out,” Prummell said.
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Power outages are rising rapidly in Florida, with 1,115,813 customers powerless at 9:15 p.m., according to poweroutage.us, about 45 minutes after Milton made landfall.
Sarasota, Manatee and Hardee are the most affected counties. Siesta Key, where Milton made landfall, is in Sarasota County.
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Reporting from Orlando, Florida
Officials in Orlando are warning residents that if they aren’t sheltered in place in the next 30 minutes, it’ll be too late.
The eye of Milton is passing over Sarasota and will continue to creep east across the state toward Orlando.
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Reporting from Tampa, Florida
Electricity is flickering in and out. Palm trees appear as though they’re about to snap. Street lamps waver back and forth.
Even from the safety of my Tampa hotel room, Milton’s ferociousness is becoming increasingly hard to look away from.
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Reporting from Tampa, Florida
In Tampa, about 73 miles north of where Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, ferocious gusts are blowing.
Trees are being bent over by the wind and signs are on the ground across the city as it faces a one-two punch it has not experienced in a very long time.
It has been raining all day in Tampa, but the rain has gotten much stronger recently. In one area of the city, 2 to 3 inches of rain per hour could fall, on top of what has already fallen today.
In total, Tampa could get upward of a foot of rain just weeks after it was flooded by Hurricane Helene.
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Tom Llamas and Jesse Kirsch
Reporting from Sarasota, Fla.
The night appeared quiet and calm in Sarasota as Milton’s eye passed over tonight, but the hurricane’s most powerful winds and storm surge are still expected to come.
With no rain or wind, drivers could be seen doing donuts, racing and driving toward nearby barrier islands.
In anticipation of the incoming danger, authorities were nowhere to be seen.
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About 10 people were injured in Wellington after a reported tornado today as Hurricane Milton approached Florida, the town manager said.
There were varying levels of injury, from minor to those requiring life support, Wellington Village Manager Jim Barnes said.
Some buildings were obliterated, cars were flipped and came to rest against houses, and trees were torn down, said Barnes, who witnessed some of the devastation.
Wellington is a town of around 65,000 close to the Atlantic coast, about 13 miles west of West Palm Beach.
There were 19 confirmed tornado touchdowns in Florida today as the hurricane approached, Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “Numerous counties have reported tornado damage,” he said.
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Heavy rain and extreme wind warning will continue for all areas north of Sarasota, contributing to wind gust up to 96 mph.
The storm will move through central Florida throughout the next several hours. Orlando could get wind gusts up to 80 mph.
The rain will become a huge issue near Tampa as flash flood warnings continue for the entire region, which could get 10 inches.
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Reporting from Sarasota, Florida
The eye of Hurricane Milton is passing over Sarasota, leaving an eerie quiet before the rest of the storm slams this coastal area. There are even birds chirping.
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Reporting from Sarasota, Florida
Luckily for people in Fort Myers, Milton is not quite “as bad as we anticipated,” Mayor Kevin Anderson told NBC News live just minutes after he lost power and nearly 30 minutes after Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, about 75 miles north of Fort Myers.
Anderson said there are a “little bit of wind gusts, some light rain.”
The city was victim of a number of tornadoes earlier today, which “definitely caught us off-guard,” Anderson said. “We weren’t expecting to have so many of them, let alone one, but luckily they weren’t too bad.”
Anderson said that “a majority, more than usual,” of people in Fort Myers listened to evacuation warnings and that downtown businesses were boarded up — something they hadn’t done in the past.
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There were 779,850 power customers without electricity across Florida at around 9 tonight, according to the outage tracking website poweroutage.us.
Some of the counties with power outages are on the Atlantic Coast. Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key on the Gulf Coast around 8:30 p.m.
The storm has a wide impact, and tropical storm-force winds extended up to 225 miles from its center, the National Hurricane Center said. Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 35 miles from the center, it said shortly before landfall.
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Reporting from Fort Myers, Florida
Water is steadily rising here in downtown Fort Myers. There’s a solid foot or two of water running down the street.
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Hurricane Milton has made landfall near Siesta Key, the National Hurricane Center said at 8:30 p.m.
The eye wall of the huge storm earlier began moving onshore near Tampa and St. Petersburg. Life-threatening rain, storm surge and wind all preceded the landfall of the center and will continue, the National Hurricane Center said.
Siesta Key is a barrier island adjacent to Sarasota. The storm made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph, the agency said.
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The federal government approved an emergency declaration ahead of Milton’s making landfall, with “thousands of federal personnel on the ground” ready to respond, Biden said.
At a briefing, Biden said that at his direction, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “prepositioned” search-and-rescue teams, helicopters and high-speed water vehicles “as close to the storm as possible so they’re ready to conduct life-saving missions.”
The director of FEMA will also be in Florida’s emergency operations center, and the federal government has 20 million meals and 40 million liters of water at the ready, Biden said.
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Hurricane Milton “still carries incredible destructiveness, can wipe out communities and cause loss of life,” Biden said.
The storm surge is still expected to be up to 13 feet, he said in a news briefing, urging people to listen to local officials and follow all their safety instructions.
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Publish date : 2024-10-10 07:48:00
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