Florida dodged the “worst-case scenario” from Hurricane Milton but still experienced significant damage that will take time to recover from, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday morning after the storm slammed the coast.
Milton made landfall Wednesday evening as a Category 3 hurricane—a major storm but not the Category 4 or even 5 it was earlier predicted to be during its life in the Gulf. Just as significant, it spared Tampa and its major population a direct hit, striking instead about 70 miles south of the city at Siesta Key.
The hurricane left at least 10 dead and more than 3 million without electricity as it also tore off the roof of a major sports landmark, Tropicana Field, where the baseball Tampa Bay Rays play.
“We will better understand the extent of the damage as the day progresses,” DeSantis said. “… What we can say is the storm was significant, but thankfully, this was not the worst-case scenario. The storm did weaken before landfall, and the storm surge, as initially reported, has not been as significant overall as what was observed for Hurricane Helene.”
He cautioned, “The storm did bring much destruction and damage.”
Helene struck near the…
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