After making landfall along the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm, Milton weakened to a Category 1 storm as it moved through Florida early Thursday. Power outages were widespread and deaths have been reported from severe weather.
The cyclone had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph when it roared ashore in Siesta Key, south of the populated Tampa Bay region, the National Hurricane Center said. High winds, heavy rain and flooding hit areas including densely populated Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
Residents rescued from assisted living facility in Tampa
More than 100 residents were rescued from an assisted living facility in Tampa, according to a social media post Thursday morning from Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s office and Hillsborough County Fire Rescue were out with amphibious equipment and the marine unit rescuing residents, Sheriff Chad Chronister said in the video.
Five storm-related deaths confirmed in Florida
After confirming 5 storm-related deaths, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he does not have any reports of others at this point, though that may change, he said at a noon briefing Thursday.
“We don’t have confirmed reports of other fatalities throughout the rest of the state, but we may as the day goes on,” he said.
“My sense is we will be able to release a lot of the search and rescue resources that we’ve had on hand very soon,” DeSantis said, without providing a specific timeline.
St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson said the deaths were caused by tornadoes that touched down near Fort Pierce.
Jessie Schaper, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Melbourne, Florida, said it’s too early to know exactly how many tornadoes touched down Wednesday or how strong they were.
Officials plan to begin their survey on Friday, but it might take some time before results are released.
MacDill Air Force base in Tampa stays closed
WASHINGTON — According to the U.S. Air Force, MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa was evacuated as of Wednesday, and remains closed.
The base, which is home to U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command, has about 185 personnel working at an emergency operations center out of Raymond James Stadium.
There were 13 KC-135 aircraft evacuated to McConnell Air Force Base, and other aircraft remained in hangars or away on military missions. A hurricane recovery team is enroute to the base to begin assessing damages and Air Forces Northern is working to provide civil air patrol flyovers to get an aerial view of the base.
Aircraft were also moved out of Patrick Space Force Base but there was no personnel evacuation ordered. Space Launch Delta 45 has a team doing damage assessments. Seven F-16 fighter jets from the 482nd Fighter Wing were moved from Homestead Air Reserve Base to San Antonio, Texas.
The U.S. Navy said there was “negligible damage” at the Mayport, Jacksonville and Kings Bay naval bases and they are expected to return to normal operations on Thursday.