Hurricane Milton had no impact in South Florida, but tornadoes did
DORAL, FL – Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. as a Category 3 hurricane near Siesta Key, just south of Sarasota, on Florida’s central west coast.
But hours before the dangerous hurricane arrived in Florida, 45 tornadoes were spotted across the state and 120 tornado warnings were issued, which resulted in the death of at least four people.
The deaths were related specifically with a tornado in St. Lucie County in Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce that also caused extensive damage to the surrounding residences. Reports say 125 houses, many of them mobile, were affected.
Also, one massive tornado was seen Wednesday morning on the ground along I-75 near Broward County, the National Weather Service posted on X (formerly Twitter) around 10:08 a.m. Some reports said the tornado was seen near Fort Lauderdale. Tornado warnings were issued for Broward and Palm Beach counties until 10:15 a.m.
According to the Weather Channel, another tornado was confirmed near the town of Weston, while additional twisters were also confirmed near Clewiston just southwest of Lake Okeechobee and in Lakeport.
In addition, the media outlet said a tornado was spotted in southwestern Miami-Dade County that struck overnight and caused material damage. “A tornado watch was issued for virtually all of South Florida Wednesday morning and was in effect until 9 p.m. EDT,” the channel reported.
In Palm Beach County, fire rescue officials confirmed Wednesday night that they responded to multiple reports of tornadoes, injuries and trapped people in the Wellington, Acreage, and Loxahatchee areas on Wednesday afternoon. Fire rescue said it began to receive 911 telephone calls just before 5 p.m.
“Firefighters located and rescued multiple people from damaged structures and vehicles,” fire rescue said in a statement. “Some were trapped under rubble or stuck in overturned vehicles tossed by the strong winds. Our Special Operations Team conducted a technical rescue to free one person from an overturned RV.”
Today, the city of Palm Beach Gardens is cleaning up a day after a tornado caused a lot of damage to their community. “A citywide assessment by crews for damage is underway this morning,” Palm Beach Gardens said Thursday in a post Milton update via email.
“Following the tornado that touched down in Avenir, our crews worked to clear roads in the community of debris and safety hazards to keep things passable for emergency vehicles.”
Tampa Bay area, hit the most by Hurricane Milton
While South Florida was fortunate enough in not receiving direct impact by Hurricane Milton, Tampa Bay wasn’t. Its 120 mph winds destroyed millions of homes and ripped roofs including that of Tropicana Field, domed stadium located in St. Petersburg and home of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays.
The storm dumped around 17 inches of rain in parts of Pinellas and Hillsborough counties in just six hours, which resulted in the National Weather Service declaring a flash flood emergency.
Parts of Sarasota, Fort Myers and other Gulf Coast communities are underwater and flooded by up to 6 feet of storm surge. The hurricane also flooded inland communities near Orlando and caused several electricity cuts across the state.
By Thursday morning, nearly 3.4 million homes and businesses were without power. Of all of them, more than half are located in the Tampa Bay area. Counties affected by power cuts are Hillsborough, Pinellas, Hernando, Pasco, Citrus, Manatee, Sarasota, Polk and Hardee.
Regarding human losses, at least nine people have been confirmed dead in the storm’s aftermath, four in St. Lucie County, two in the city of St. Petersburg, and three in Volusia County.
Nevertheless, on Thursday morning, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the storm surge wasn’t as bad as Helene. It also wasn’t as bad as originally predicted as a Category 5 hurricane, because it receded as a 3 just before landfall.
“Thankfully, this was not the worst-case scenario,” DeSantis said Thursday morning. “Definitely the surge did not reach Helene levels.”
Still, millions of families were left with economic losses after the disaster Hurricane Milton brought and we can all help those in need by making donations.
The American Red Cross is one of the organizations that is collecting donations to provide shelter and support for the victims together with the Florida Disaster Fund, the Florida Disaster Legal Aid Helpline, Feeding Tampa Bay, and Metro Ministries, among others.