Florida Begins to Estimate Hurricane Milton's Destruction at 3 Million People Without Power | Hurricane Milton

More than 3 million Floridians are without power as officials begin assessing the damage caused by Hurricane Milton, a Category 3 storm that ripped through a central part of the state overnight Wednesday.

Parts of Sarasota, Fort Myers and other Gulf Coast cities were inundated by storm surges up to 10 feet high, while tornadoes destroyed buildings, including a sheriff's department. The sky turned purple and winds of up to 120 miles per hour turned cars, trees and debris into projectiles.

Milton landed on Siesta Key, south of St. Petersburg, around 8:30 p.m. Eight hours later, it moved offshore north of Cape Canaveral as a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 85 miles per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center.

A crane collapsed in downtown St. Petersburg, leaving a crack in an office building that blocked a street. Water service was cut off and the roof of a major league baseball stadium was torn off.

It will take days to assess the damage, but insurers have warned that damages could reach $60 billion. Tornadoes that accompanied the storm's approach could prove as damaging as the hurricane itself: At least 116 tornado warnings have been issued across Florida, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday evening.

Four deaths were confirmed early Thursday in St. Lucie County on Florida's Atlantic coast, where officials said tornadoes touched down. Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida's Division of Emergency Management, said initial reports suggested about 125 homes were destroyed, mostly mobile homes in senior living communities.

Inland, about 11 million people are at risk of flash floods and river flooding after some parts of the state received just once in 1,000 years of rain.

In Bradenton, north of Sarasota, the police chief said “probably” more than 60% of the city was without power. In Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, there were “downed power lines and trees everywhere,” according to the sheriff's office.

But the powerful storm surge that authorities had predicted before Milton's arrival may not have been as bad as expected. Communities north of Siesta Key were hit by heavy rains expected to total up to 18 inches, while areas to the south, including Fort Myers Beach and Naples, were affected by the storm's ocean surge.

Some forecast models had predicted Milton would make direct landfall on Tampa Bay, triggering a 15-foot storm surge, but the storm's direction faltered, steering it about 70 miles south to hit the beaches.

Still, the flooding in Plant City, inland from Tampa, was “absolutely devastating,” said City Manager Bill McDaniel. Emergency crews rescued 35 people overnight, said McDaniel, who estimated there was 13.5 inches of rain in the city.

“We're having flooding in places and on a scale that I've never experienced before, and I've lived in this community my whole life,” he said Thursday morning.

Before Milton's arrival, the state had issued mandatory evacuation orders in 15 Florida counties with a combined population of about 7.2 million people. Anyone who remained behind was warned that they would have to fend for themselves until Milton crossed over.

Among some who stayed were 12 workers at the Tampa Zoo, which is in the evacuation zone, where they made sure the orangutans had their blankets, the manatees had a supply of lettuce and the rhinos had bamboo.

Now Florida is facing a massive cleanup effort. In Orlando, Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and Sea World remained closed Thursday. At a news conference, DeSantis said 9,000 National Guard members and 50,000 utility workers from California were ready to respond.

“Unfortunately there will be fatalities. I don’t think there’s any way around it,” DeSantis said.