VIDEO: Tampa is hit by Hurricane Milton as destructive winds sweep across the city

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Hurricane Milton devastated the Tampa-St. The Petersburg area experienced wind gusts of more than 100 miles per hour and torrential rain Wednesday, knocking out power to well over a million residents in the metro area and damaging the home stadium of the city's baseball team.

St. Petersburg Airport reported gusts above 70 mph for more than three hours, including seven gusts above 90 mph and a peak gust of 101 mph just after 10:30 p.m. ET. Tampa International Airport has recorded a peak gust of 93 miles per hour so far.

The strong winds caused significant damage to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, where videos showed massive cracks in the stadium's fabric roof. The facility is home to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Tropicana Field was used as a temporary location for hundreds of first responders. According to local authorities, there were no reports of injuries related to the damage to the stadium.

In St. Petersburg, too, a construction crane collapsed at the 400 Central Building, according to FOX 13 Tampa. There are no reports of injuries there either. A witness told FOX 13 she believes it fell on the Tampa Bay Times building. The crane fell from a building that had been under construction for about two years and would be the tallest building in St. Petersburg, FOX 13 reported.

Adding to the problems was the fact that St. Petersburg switched off the drinking water supply at midnight on Thursday morning due to a major water pipe break. The shutdown will remain in place until weather conditions subside enough for crews to begin repairs, city officials said.

However, due to widespread power outages, Tampa Bay Water urged all residents to conserve water throughout the city.

According to PowerOutage.us, power outages affected over 1.25 million customers in Hillsborough and Pinellas County alone.

Milton hit land south of the St. Petersburg area in Siesta Key on Wednesday evening as a severe Category 3 storm. But while southern landfall saved the area from feared record storm surge in Tampa Bay, flooding was already becoming a problem as Milton dumped several inches of rain in minutes.

A flash flood disaster affected 2 million people in the metropolitan area. At Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg, over 5 inches of rain fell in one hour, over 10 inches in 3.5 hours and 18 inches in 24 hours.

“This is a particularly dangerous situation,” the National Weather Service warned. “Now find higher ground!”

Updates to follow.