Hurricane Milton leaves millions without power, disrupts flights

Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida near Sarasota late Wednesday, knocking out power to more than 3 million customers and causing widespread flooding. But officials were cautiously optimistic that damage would not reach the level of Hurricane Ian in 2022.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida avoided the “worst-case scenario,” even as emergency crews begin to assess damage and deal with widespread power outages. In addition to Milton’s wrath, the hurricane spawned a rash of tornadoes in central Florida Wednesday afternoon that killed at least four people.

Between the impact of the hurricane and the tornadoes, damage and losses could reach $60 billion to $75 billion, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at Enki Research. Ian, which hit near where Milton made landfall, killed at least 156 people and caused more than $112 billion in damage and losses as of September 2022, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

Milton is the fifth hurricane and second major storm to hit the US Gulf Coast this year. Overall, the six-month Atlantic hurricane season produced 13 named storms, one fewer than average.

However, Hurricane Helene, which struck exactly two weeks ago, devastated much of the southern US and left at least 230 dead. The impact of that storm along with Milton is likely to tax federal emergency funds and flood insurance programs.

As of 11 a.m. New York time, 3.4 million customers were without power across Florida, according to PowerOutage.us. In addition, 2,236 flights were canceled around the US, mostly serving Orlando, Tampa, Palm Beach, Miami and Southwest Florida International, said FlightAware, an airline tracking service.

Hurricane-force winds swept Florida’s citrus groves, the Commodity Weather Group said. Damage will have to be assessed across the state, which is the largest citrus producer in the US.

Forecasters expected Milton to bring a large storm to Florida’s west coast that would have caused significant damage, especially if the hurricane struck farther north and flooded Tampa Bay.

Initial reports indicate the surge in many areas was 5 to 8 feet (1.5 to 2.5 meters) above high tide marks, less than the 15 feet forecasters had feared by Wednesday. Additionally, Milton, like Ian, hit the coast south of Tampa, so its winds actually blew water out of Tampa Bay for a while, lowering the water level there.

Milton moved into the Atlantic earlier Thursday and is set to transition into a post-tropical storm away from land this weekend, said Adam Douty, meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. commercial forecasting. There is a chance that its edge could bring showers and windy conditions. to Bermuda.

Douty said his company is closely watching computer forecast models that suggest another storm may form in the western Caribbean next week.

Top photo: Residents photograph property damage after Hurricane Milton made landfall in St. Petersburg, Florida on October 10.

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