The storm made landfall near Sarasota on the Gulf Coast as forecasters warned of dangerous storm surge and flash floods. Deaths were reported from a tornado in Fort Pierce, and wind destroyed the roof of the Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium.

WFTS via Associated Press

Mike’s Weather Page via Reuters

Patricia Mazzei/The New York Times

Margaritaville Beach Resort Fort Myers Beach via Reuters

Hartley Aerial via Associated Press

Associated Press

Associated Press

Jasper Curry/The New York Times

Callaghan O'Hare for The New York Times

Paul Ratje for The New York Times

Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

Callaghan O'Hare for The New York Times

Reuters

Paul Ratje for The New York Times

Follow live coverage of Hurricane Milton.

Pinned

Patricia MazzeiKate SeligAudra D. S. Burch and

Milton carved a path of destruction after crashing ashore Wednesday evening on Florida’s Gulf Coast, making landfall near Sarasota and making its way across the state overnight with ferocious winds and heavy rains.

The storm had already soaked and battered the state for much of Wednesday and unleashed a spate of tornadoes that caused even more damage and destruction.

By around midnight, the storm had destroyed more than 100 homes, killed several people in a retirement community and ripped the roof off Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays. Flooding was reported on both coasts, from Tampa to St. Augustine.

Forecasters warned that storm surge could reach up to 13 feet, and a flash flood warning was in place for several cities in the Tampa Bay region. More than 5.5 million people were under storm surge warnings and more than 13 million under a flood watch, according to the National Weather Service.

Here’s what we’re covering:

Widespread impact: Most of Florida’s counties were under a state of emergency on Wednesday, and more than 2.8 million customers across the state had lost power by about 2:30 a.m. Emergency services were suspended in several counties. Read about the statewide threats.

Tornado threat: There have been more than two dozen reports of tornadoes or tornado-related damage from the storm in the state, according to National Weather Service. One tore through Spanish Lakes Country Club Village in Fort Pierce, on the eastern coastline, and killed several people, according to the police. Here’s why hurricanes can cause tornadoes.

Riding out the storm: A group of evacuees huddled in the lobby of a hotel near Tampa as Milton roared ashore, exchanging information, keeping track of storm updates and connecting with each other. Read about their experience.

Last-minute decisions: Several people decided to evacuate at the 11th hour Wednesday after considering the dire weather warnings and gas shortages. “I just want to be on the safe side,” one Fort Myers resident said. Here are their stories.

Fitting end: One meteorologist’s cremated ashes became a part of Milton, spread from a Hurricane Hunter plane. Read about the special tribute.

Oct. 10, 2024, 5:03 a.m. ET

As Milton swooped east across Florida overnight, people in the state’s inland counties were seeking shelter from hurricane-force winds and preparing for possible floods or tornadoes.

“It’s not a good situation right now,” said Monty Askari, who was working the night shift at a Howard Johnson hotel in Lakeland, about 35 miles east of Tampa along Interstate 4. “Because of the storm we are completely sold out.”

Hurricanes that hit Florida’s Gulf Coast often weaken after landfall, and Milton did drop to a Category 2 storm a little over an hour after it crashed ashore as a Category 3. But while some hurricanes don’t pose much of an inland threat after landfall, Milton packed so much force that it remained very dangerous as it passed over land.

As dawn neared on Thursday, it was a strong Category 1 hurricane whipping inland counties with sustained winds of more than 80 miles per hour. There were reports of more than two dozen tornadoes across the state as of late Wednesday.

Such winds are strong enough to snap large tree branches, topple power lines and damage the roofs of even well-constructed homes. While Gulf Coast counties accounted for many of Florida’s nearly three million power outages early Thursday morning, hundreds of thousands were in central and eastern counties.

“We’re currently in the thick of it,” Bill Litton, the emergency management director for Osceola County, south of Orlando in Central Florida, said by phone after midnight.

High winds were the primary concern, he added, along with an expected six to eight inches of rain in some areas and possible flooding in low-lying parts of the state. A flash flood warning was in effect for parts of the county until 6 a.m.

Over 1,400 people had voluntarily moved into emergency shelters in Osceola County as of early Thursday, Mr. Litton said. Most of the county’s emergency medical workers had been temporarily grounded for safety because wind speeds were over 45 m.p.h., he added.

Nearly 30,000 of Osceola County’s more than 200,000 electricity customers had no power as of 4 a.m. local time, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us.

In neighboring Polk County, an inland county closer to the Gulf Coast, nearly 50 percent of the roughly 380,000 electricity customers had lost power. At least 20 emergency shelters were open there, and the authorities warned that heavy rainfall could lead to possible sewer overflows.

“Now is the time to hunker down,” Paul Womble, the county’s emergency management director, told reporters as Milton approached Polk County on Wednesday afternoon. “It’s not safe, and the strongest part of the storm is not here.”

In Lakeland, a city of 120,000 people in Polk County, Mr. Askari said by phone from the Howard Johnson hotel early Thursday that he wasn’t sure what the conditions were like outside. He had been sheltering at the hotel since his last night shift.

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Oct. 10, 2024, 12:31 a.m. ET

Search-and-rescue efforts were underway in Florida on Thursday morning after Hurricane Milton spawned powerful tornadoes across the state that resulted in some loss of life, according to one county sheriff. The tornadoes were reported to have damaged more than a hundred structures around the state, and several people were injured, the authorities said.

At least 116 tornado warnings had been issued across Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference just before 8 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday. Mr. DeSantis said there were 19 confirmed tornadoes in the state. A tornado warning is issued after a tornado is seen by a spotter or shows up on a radar. It is an urgent alert to take shelter. The National Weather Service later looks into each one for confirmation.

Tornadoes Across Florida

Locations of tornado sightings or damage reported by trained spotters.

“Numerous counties have reported tornado damage,” Mr. DeSantis said.

Kevin Guthrie, the executive director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said that early reports indicated about 125 homes were destroyed, mostly mobile homes in senior communities.

Some of the earliest reports of severe damage from tornadoes came from St. Lucie County on Florida’s Atlantic coast, about 140 miles east from where Milton made landfall. Crews were sifting through the rubble at the Spanish Lakes Country Club Village in Lakewood Park, Fla., on Wednesday evening. Sheriff Keith Pearson of St. Lucie County told WPBF, an ABC affiliate station, that “multiple tornadoes” touched down in the Spanish Lakes community, and “we have lost some life.”

“Search-and-rescue teams are on their way,” he said. “We’re going through the rubble. We’re trying to recover anybody that we can, provide whatever help that we can.”

Sheriff Pearson declined to comment on the number of fatalities to WPBF on Wednesday evening, saying the crews were focused on “recovering.”

“This is the beginning of the storm,” Sheriff Pearson said, noting the long road to recovery ahead. “Take whatever precautions.”

In a video posted on Facebook, Sheriff Pearson warned his residents to take the storm threat seriously by showing a 10,000-foot iron structure that once covered patrol cars that he said had been crumpled when a tornado passed through. No one was injured. The sheriff’s office could not be reached.

In Central Florida, Sheriff Paul Blackman of the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office said on social media that a tornado had apparently struck the Tropical Harbor Mobile Home Park in Lake Placid around 2 p.m., causing structure damage. One person suffered minor injuries.

Two tornadoes touched down in Okeechobee County, the county’s Emergency Management Department said, adding that two people had been injured and over 30 homes damaged.

Hurricanes can spawn tornadoes because their outer rain bands often contain strong thunderstorms of their own. Tornadoes that accompany tropical systems are usually weak and short-lived, but those accompanying Milton were slightly more intense and out of the ordinary, meteorologists said.

Reporting was contributed by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs , Hank Sanders , Yan Zhuang , John Keefe Henry Fountain and Judson Jones .

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Oct. 10, 2024, 12:09 a.m. ET

Strong winds from Hurricane Milton on Wednesday night tore through the roof of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., home to the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball, video showed.

Pieces of the translucent, Teflon-coated fiberglass roof were seen flapping in the wind. Within minutes, videos posted to social media showed the flaps growing in size until large sections of the roof were completely missing.

Earlier this week, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida announced Tropicana Field was being converted into a 10,000-person base camp “to support ongoing debris operations and post-landfall responders.” The governor’s spokesman, Jeremy Redfern, said on Thursday morning that the staging area had been relocated to Jacksonville, Fla.

Tropicana Field’s roof was built to withstand winds of up to 115 miles per hour, according to the Rays’ media guide. Wind speeds in St. Petersburg at 10:30 p.m. were 101 m.p.h., according to forecasters.

Bill Johnson first heard flapping noises as pieces of the roof started tearing off at about 10:45 p.m. Mr. Johnson, 57, was staying at a relative’s house and saw the damage from the window.

The tears worsened and within 30 minutes whole panels started blowing off the roof, he said in a telephone interview early Thursday morning.

“It just makes me sad seeing the stadium of the team I love ruined,” said Mr. Johnson, a St. Petersburg resident and a Rays fan.

In a social media post on Sunday, the Rays said that “Tropicana Field is NOT being used as a shelter,” and urged residents to remain updated about the storm through local officials.

Hurricane Milton made landfall near Sarasota on Wednesday. Large portions of Florida have seen significant flooding. Tornados have also wreaked havoc around the state, destroying homes and leading to some injuries and even death, according to at least one county official.

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Oct. 9, 2024, 10:48 p.m. ET

Storm surge along the western Florida coast began to pick up as daylight dwindled and Hurricane Milton came ashore with its heavy rains and damaging winds, bringing the threat of major flooding.

Flood gauges showed rapidly rising water levels on the coast at Fort Myers and Naples Bay shortly after Milton’s center arrived on land near Sarasota. Forecasters warned of the life threatening surge, which was expected to reach up to 13 feet in some areas, like Boca Grande on the far edges of the western coast.

The term storm surge describes the dramatic, higher-than-expected rise in water levels brought on by a storm, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline,” forecasters had earlier warned.

In Tampa Bay, officials issued a flash flood emergency, a rare alert used when flooding is expected to inflict catastrophic damage and pose a severe threat to human life.

Storm surge has been a particular point of emphasis with this hurricane among officials as it’s been responsible for dozens of deaths in storms past. In 2022, for example, 41 deaths during Hurricane Ian were attributed to storm surge.

Images on social media taken before Milton’s arrival showed signs of the deluge to come, with water beginning to lap over sidewalks and roadways. Some videos showed the light from buildings reflecting brightly off the water against the darkness of night as it rushed over streets and into buildings.

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Oct. 9, 2024, 9:42 p.m. ET

Even as some parts of Florida’s western coast were enduring a surge of seawater on Wednesday night, Hurricane Milton’s heavy winds were pushing water out of Tampa Bay.

A flood gauge near Tampa showed the water levels fluctuating as Milton approached and then plummeting while the storm’s eye passed to the south — dropping three feet below the level expected on a normal day.

The phenomenon, reminiscent of what occurred during Hurricanes Ian in 2022 and Irma in 2017, will probably last only a few hours — and could suddenly reverse, with damaging results.

The outward flow is sometimes referred to as a reverse, or negative, storm surge. A storm surge occurs when high-speed winds push ocean water onshore, but in this case the winds are draining the bay instead of flooding it.

A hurricane’s winds blow counterclockwise, and with Milton passing south of Tampa Bay, winds to the north of the storm are blowing in from the east, pushing water away from the shoreline.

The unusual sight can draw curious onlookers, but officials say that it’s dangerous to wander out along shores with receding tides. The water will eventually return and could rise quickly in a matter of minutes.

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Oct. 9, 2024, 8:04 p.m. ET

The humble hotel lobby has become a gathering place for some evacuees as Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida. It’s a spot where people can exchange information — such as which gas stations still have fuel or where to find a hot meal — and stay informed with storm updates. For some, it’s also a place to connect, with the shared uncertainty fostering moments of camaraderie.

“We’re all in the same boat, and the boat is flooding,” said Chris Granson Sr., 74, who evacuated from a barrier island off the coast of Clearwater, Fla., to the Holiday Inn Express & Suites here in Wesley Chapel, about 30 minutes north of downtown Tampa.

Across the lobby from Mr. Granson, four friends from a senior community in Oldsmar, Fla., discussed politics and planned their next meal while watching the weather updates on TV. (Another guest advised them that a nearby 7-Eleven was still open.)

They said they were part of a larger group at the community known as the Hippo Club, named so because its members enjoy “wallowing” in the pool while chatting about everything under the sun. For these four, the hurricane has temporarily relocated their club — and possibly added a few honorary members.

“We’ve met people from all up and down the coast,” said Gayle Richardson, 66.

Nearby, four women split Champagne and chocolates while playing a card game, including Laurie Deer, 56, who left lollipops at the front desk for the other guests, and Rosemary O’Hara, 69.

Two of the women’s husbands joined them. Tom O’Hara, 77, who was affectionately called Mr. Positive by the others, confidently predicted that the storm would shift south, sparing their homes.

“We’re laughing and bonding, trying not to watch too much news,” said Ms. O’Hara. “We know something bad is happening out there, and we’ll face it when we return. But, for now, we’re focusing on what matters.”

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Oct. 9, 2024, 7:44 p.m. ET

After Hurricane Helene left Dan Hadley and Diane deGrasse with no power or water at their home in Black Mountain, N.C., an old friend from church offered them her home in Venice, Fla. She was going to be away, but at least the couple could get a respite from the tough post-storm conditions.

Mr. Hadley, 87, drove 14 hours over two days to get to Venice. “We said, ‘Hey, let’s head to sunny Florida!” he said.

Then, Hurricane Milton formed in the Gulf of Mexico.

“This dumb luck,” Mr. Hadley said by phone as rains and winds gusted outside.

The couple once again found themselves with no running water — local officials shut it off ahead of the storm — but they still had power late Wednesday afternoon. They had lifted books and other items off the floor, expecting a foot or two of storm surge, though Mr. Hadley said the latest forecast showing a slightly weaker storm had reassured him a bit.

Speaking from her second home in Cape Cod, Mass., Linda Underwood said she could not believe she had inadvertently put her friends in Milton’s path.

“I did it out of the goodness of my heart,” she said. “Now they’re sitting quite near the shores of Venice, Florida.”

The Venice house is in an evacuation zone, Mr. Hadley said — half a mile from the water — but “we just have no place to go.”

Many Floridians have ties to North Carolina. Terry Neal, who is retired, splits his time between Tampa, Fla., and Hendersonville, N.C. He was in North Carolina for Helene and his home there still has no power. He was anxiously waiting to see what Milton might do to his Tampa home.

“I lived in Florida for 24 years, and I’ve seen hurricanes come through before, but nothing like these past two weeks,” Mr. Neal said. “I just can’t believe it.”

His Tampa home is near a river. He said in an interview on Tuesday that he worried the house would flood and he might lose meaningful belongings, such as his pets’ ashes. Before he leaves each year for North Carolina, he said, “I say to them, ‘You’re protecting our home.’”

But mostly, Mr. Neal said, “I worry about the living” — his friends and neighbors in Tampa who might soon face conditions similar to the one his friends and neighbors in North Carolina are weathering.

Mr. Hadley said that when he retired to the Asheville, N.C., area, he considered it a climate haven.

“There was no way of anticipating that we’d get soaked with rain before Helene was even a storm,” he said.

Now, awaiting Milton, he and his wife have stocks of food, water and liquor, he said. Ms. deGrasse, he added, “has been making really quite excellent peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”

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Oct. 9, 2024, 7:29 p.m. ET

Javier C. Hernández and

Performers and artists have evacuated from downtown. Museums have moved artwork to higher floors in case of flooding. Orchestras and opera companies have canceled concerts.

As Hurricane Milton barreled toward Sarasota, Fla., on Wednesday, cultural organizations in the city scrambled to protect their staff members, collections and facilities.

“We’ve been lucky so far,” said Richard Russell, the general director of the Sarasota Opera, which closed its doors as it braced for possible damage to its opera house, which was built in 1926. “But you never know. This is supposed to be worse than any storm we’ve seen before.”

The city’s Asolo Repertory Theater has rebooked flights for artists and postponed rehearsals for Carole King’s “Beautiful,” said Peter Rothstein, the producing artistic director. Virginia Shearer, the executive director of the Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College, said some artwork had been moved to the museum’s third floor and away from windows in case of flooding.

“We don’t know what we’ll walk back into, but we’re committed to our community,” said Ms. Shearer, who hoped to turn the museum into a communal space this weekend to provide free coffee, internet and other assistance.

Sarasota’s cultural scene has thrived in recent years, recovering from the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic. Now some worry that the storm could be a setback by hitting a region already affected by Hurricanes Helene and Debby this year.

“For something this strong to come again is really difficult,” said Brian Hersh, the chief executive of the Arts & Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County. “It will pass. But until then, there is a lot of anxiety and angst.”

Steven High, the executive director of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, which sits on Sarasota Bay, said the staff just finished cleaning up after Helene. A sailboat that broke free of its moorings crashed into the terrace of Ca’ d’Zan, the former home of John Ringling.

“It is always a recovery project” after a hurricane, said Mr. High, who has been at the museum for 12 years and called Milton “our biggest challenge.”

Dozens of performances in Sarasota have been postponed or canceled. The Sarasota Orchestra announced it was canceling performances through Sunday, and the Sarasota Opera canceled a Motown performance scheduled for Tuesday.

The opera’s leaders were worried about possible flooding of the orchestra pit, which sits below the water table. The company also keeps a costume collection of about 100,000 pieces in a warehouse.

Mr. Russell said the increasing frequency of storms in recent years has hurt ticket sales, with some patrons now choosing to delay their return to Sarasota until later in the fall.

“I’m concerned for our staff and audiences,” he said. “I have donors, patrons and staff who lost their house, who lost everything in Helene. This is a community that’s been hurt very badly, and it’s not getting any better.”

The opera company’s artists have evacuated, said Mr. Russell, who is staying in Sarasota. (He lives in a part of the city not under mandatory evacuation orders.)

“I have a responsibility to this historic building,” he added. “I have a responsibility to our company and to make sure everybody is safe and taken care of.”

An hour north of Sarasota, museums in Tampa are also preparing for the powerful storm. The Salvador Dalí Museum has 18-inch-thick reinforced concrete walls and flood panels to protect against potential storm surge.

Michael Tomor, the executive director of the Tampa Museum of Art, said early Wednesday afternoon that he had left his home to stay at the museum — both are in mandatory evacuation zones — in case any decisions there needed to be made quickly.

The museum is 15 feet above sea level and was designed to survive a direct hit from a Category 3 hurricane; the floor that holds most exhibits has an aluminum perforated skin for extra protection.

“But we are unclear how far the waters will rise,” he said. “We don’t know how high the surge will be.”

Emmanuel Morgan contributed reporting.

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Oct. 9, 2024, 7:00 p.m. ET

The orangutans have their blankets, the skunks have their personal space. The manatees have pools filled with days’ worth of lettuce, and the rhinos have stalls of bamboo.

On Wednesday, staff members said ZooTampa at Lowry Park was as prepared as it could be for Hurricane Milton. And the animals won’t be alone: 12 workers have volunteered to stay behind at the zoo, which lies in an evacuation zone.

“We have the staff there that know them and can watch and monitor their behavior and give them what they need to ensure that they’re comfortable,” ZooTampa’s senior director of animal programs, Tiffany Burns, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

More than 1,000 animals live at the 65-acre zoo, including elephants, giraffes, primates, flamingos, alligators, extinct-in-the-wild Panamanian golden frogs and rare red wolves.

For now, ZooTampa is well within Milton’s projected path. It lies less than 10 miles from Tampa’s waterfront, where storm surge could reach up to 13 feet.

Ms. Burns said that zoo workers had spent the last few days moving large animals into the nighttime shelters adjoining their outdoor habitats, which she said were “hurricane proof.” Smaller mammals and birds had been taken indoors, too. (The alligators will stay in their usual habitats, submerging themselves for safety like their peers in the wild.)

Inside buildings, behind boarded-up windows, zoo workers have chopped vegetables and filled stalls with hay and stalks of bamboo. There is enough food for the animals — and the zoo workers — to last weeks, Ms. Burns said. “We want to make sure that we are prepared not only for the storm but for the time after the storm,” she said, when roads might close.

Nearby in Tampa, at the Florida Aquarium, officials made the decision Wednesday afternoon to send all staff home, based on Milton’s strength on the ground and its expected track, according to Roger Germann, the aquarium’s president and chief executive.

“Everyone is standing down,” Mr. Germann said around 4 p.m., noting that the aquarium lies right on the water. “We will not have an overnight rideout team,” he said. “We boarded the place up and secured it, and they are headed home before things get crazy.”

The staff has left all animals well fed, he said, and plans to monitor the premises for flooding using the camera system — as long as power holds up. Earlier in the week, sensitive corals were evacuated to safer locations in Florida and Georgia, and some animals, like penguins, were taken to upper floors.

“It is hard, don’t get me wrong,” Mr. Germann said.

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