Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday night as a powerful Category 4 storm, bringing record flooding and catastrophic winds of up to 120mph. Among the hardest-hit areas was St. Petersburg, where the roof of Tropicana Field, home to the Tampa Bay Rays, was destroyed. The stadium had been serving as a shelter for first responders and cleanup workers preparing for the aftermath of the storm. Inside the facility, footage revealed a field strewn with debris and empty cots meant for sheltering those responding to the disaster.
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Milton, which was downgraded to a Category 1 storm early Thursday, also unleashed a series of deadly tornadoes that ravaged St. Lucie County, levelling over 100 homes and killing multiple people, according to early reports. Authorities are still assessing the full extent of the damage.
In St. Petersburg, a large construction crane collapsed from the top of a building and crashed into the offices of the Tampa Bay Times, though miraculously, no injuries were reported in the incident.
The Tampa area remains under a Flash Flood Emergency, with nearly 3 million people across Florida without power as crews work to restore services and assess the storm’s trail of destruction.
As emergency response efforts continue, residents are urged to remain cautious and heed official warnings while cleanup and recovery operations get underway.
Stay tuned for live updates on Hurricane Milton’s aftermath.
