After Hurricane Milton made landfall in Sarasota County near Siesta Key as a Category 3 storm, emergency officials are warning that more dangerous weather is on the horizon.
“Residents should continue to shelter in place & remain vigilant,” the Florida Division of Emergency Management said in a Facebook post Wednesday evening.
“Deadly” hazards and weather conditions will continue well into Thursday as the storm moves across the state, officials said.
Strong winds, heavy rain and damaging tornadoes have already slammed some parts of the state, with areas including Tampa already reporting life-threatening flash flooding.
Conditions in St. Petersburg, Florida, are “getting rough” and violent, CNN’s Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir said Wednesday night after Hurricane Milton made landfall.
“This is going to cause so much heartache,” he said while standing amid torrential waves of rain. “There must be so much stress across Florida tonight.”
More than 1.1 million without electricity as Milton knocks out power at an exceptional rate
Power outages in Florida have doubled in just over an hour, leaving more than 1.1 million homes and businesses in the dark as Hurricane Milton pummels the state, according to PowerOutage.us
The most significant outages are in Sarasota County, where Milton made landfall around 8:30 p.m. ET, and nearby Manatee and Hardee counties.
Outages are expected to climb as the storm’s tropical storm-force winds move inward across the state.
More than 9 inches of rain have fallen in only three hours as Hurricane Milton’s heaviest rain band has parked itself over the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday evening. This represents more than a 1-in-1000 rainfall for St. Petersburg.
It also means that more than three months of average rainfall for the city fell in only three hours.
The National Weather Service is warning that major flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly, and that will lead to life-threatening impacts.
Florida’s Martin County reports multiple injuries and dozens of homes damaged
Officials in Martin County, Florida, say several injuries have been reported and dozens of homes have been damaged as Hurricane Milton slams the state with strong winds, heavy rain and damaging tornadoes.
Some homes have been “severely” damaged, Martin County Fire Rescue said in a post on X Wednesday night. Both serious and minor injuries have also been reported, but no fatalities have been reported at this time.
Residents should continue to stay off roads, Martin County officials urged. The Martin County Sheriff’s Office has also implemented a countywide curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. “because of the significant damage caused by multiple tornadoes in Martin County, as well as deteriorating weather conditions expected through the night.”
The county is in the southeastern part of the state near St. Lucie County, where “multiple fatalities” occurred from a tornado outbreak earlier in the day.
New flash flood emergency issued in northeast of Tampa area
Max Watts walks in a parking lot to check on a trailer parked outside the hotel where he is riding out Hurricane Milton with coworkers, in Tampa, on Wednesday.
Julio Cortez/AP
A second flash flood emergency has been issued to the northeast of the previous emergency which was for Tampa, St. Petersburg, Riverview and Palmetto.
The new flash flood emergency lasts until 4 a.m. and includes Lakeland, Winter Haven and Wesley Chapel.
“Between 8 and 12 inches of rain have fallen. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly,” the National Weather Service said.
The Tampa and St. Petersburg emergency currently lasts until 2:30 a.m.
Sen. Rick Scott worried about Florida residents who didn’t evacuate: “We can’t take care of them now”
As Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday evening, Florida Sen. Rick Scott told CNN that he is worried about residents who chose not to evacuate, as well as the safety of first responders who might have to risk their lives to help them.
“People that didn’t evacuate that should’ve. We can’t take care of them now,” Scott told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source.”
“You have no choice. You have to stay in place now, and you have to hunker down, and you have to keep yourself alive. I worry about our first responders that want to go out and help these people and they have to put their lives on the line,” he said.
Scott, who said he evacuated his home in Naples, Florida, told Collins he is also worried about significant power outages and damage in the wake of the storm.
He stressed the exceptional number of tornadoes that hit Florida on Wednesday.
“I talked to sheriffs and mayors where they had tornadoes. It was a scary, scary time. We had so many tornadoes,” he said. “I could feel it in people’s voices how concerned there were.”
