Aftermath of Hurricane Milton: Storm lashes Florida with tornadoes and flooding; at least 14 dead

K-12 schools in 19 of Florida's 67 counties are expected to reopen Friday after classes were canceled as Hurricane Milton rapidly strengthened and barreled toward the state earlier this week.

While all tropical storm and storm surge warnings were canceled for Milton Thursday evening, schools in 34 counties have decided to keep their doors closed, according to the Florida Department of Education.

The FLDOE says on its website that it will continue to work with schools “following natural disasters to ensure they have the necessary resources to resume normal operations as quickly as possible.”

More than 2.5 million Florida households and businesses are powerless, with those in the central part of the state and the west-central region hardest hit.

In Hillsborough County, nearly 500,000 electricity customers are out, while in Highlands County, nearly 89 percent of customers are without power.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a news conference Thursday that tens of thousands of linemen are working to restore power in the Sunshine State.

“With the state’s full support and the preparation of over 50,000 linemen, utilities and telecommunications providers are working hard to restore power and connectivity to these communities as quickly as possible,” he said.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said Thursday that Milton's influence was not as destructive as feared. Criswell will tour some of the damage caused by tornadoes on Friday.

“We didn't have the extreme impact of the worst-case scenario that we were prepared for, but there are still so many people affected,” she said at a news conference in Sarasota.

He said crews continued to search for others, but conditions made it difficult.

According to the WFLA, this amount is more than five times the normal amount of rain in the month of October.