Hurricane Milton carves deadly path through Florida, millions without power

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
gave an update on Hurricane Milton Thursday afternoon after it made landfall the night before as a Category 3 Storm.

By Thursday afternoon, the governor said, at least 340 individuals and 49 pets had been rescued. Florida National Guard, Florida law enforcement, and urban search and rescue teams were continuing to work through the day. Hundreds of rescuers were engaged in more than 125 missions in 26 counties.

“The northern side of the storm had a lot of precipitation. They were just getting water dumped on them. So, whereas [Hurricane] Helene created a lot of storm surge in that part of the state, this one didn’t do that here, but it create inland flooding,” DeSantis said.

Around 4 million were left without power. As of the 3 p.m. update, around 880,000 had been restored, with 3.2 million accounts still without power.

DeSantis said that while Hurricane Milton did inflict damage, “I think in some areas that in terms of what was being predicted, some of the worst case scenarios did not come to pass, certainly in terms of some of the storm surge people were predicting.”

Hurricane Milton has exited Florida’s east coast, but major flooding continues along Hillsborough, Saint John’s and the Little rivers. Water levels are forecasted to continue rising.

“Residents in these areas should continue to shelter in place until officials deem it safe to go outside,” Florida Emergency Management Kevin Guthrie said.

Gov. DeSantis warned people against taking advantage of a dire situation.

“I’m warning you, don’t do that. If you loot, you will be held accountable. If you’re doing things that violate the law, if you’re gonna try to take advantage of vulnerable people, we’re going to throw the book at you,” DeSantis said.  “We even had some jackass, chain a dog to a pole. As the storm was coming Florida Highway Patrol rescued the dog.”