Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Florida after DeSantis warns of fatalities

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Hurricane Milton made landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm Wednesday night, after the state saw 19 confirmed tornadoes that destroyed 120 homes earlier in the day.

Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters during a Wednesday evening briefing at the state Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee that the eye of the hurricane had begun to make landfall between Tampa Bay and Sarasota with 125 mph winds. The winds brought by the storm appeared to be weaker than officials and National Hurricane Centers had initially feared, after it was weakened by sudden shifts just before it hit the coast.

Still, Milton is a very powerful storm and is expected to bring coastal flooding of up to 15 feet and leave heavy damage.

“It’s a serious, serious storm,” DeSantis said. “But in terms of some of the damage that we’re going to see from wind, there just is a big difference.”

The outer bands of Hurricane Milton began hitting the state throughout the day that led to 160 tornado warnings and 19 confirmed touchdowns. One of them destroyed 120 trailers in a senior living community, but DeSantis said there were no deaths reported.

Ports in Tampa and Manatee County are key distribution points for gasoline, and DeSantis said they could see heavy damage from Hurricane Milton. He said the state is already speaking with federal officials, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, about hurriedly making repairs.

“I think there is a sense of urgency with some of the federal agencies as well,” DeSantis said. “But we want to get these ports back open as quickly as possible.”

DeSantis had warned at a morning briefing that the flooding will likely lead to fatalities. “There will be fatalities,” DeSantis said. “I don’t see a way around it when the storm surge is 10 feet.”

Milton is the second major hurricane to hit the state in less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene, which hit Florida’s Big Bend late last month before leaving a swath of destruction in North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Milton had exceeded expectations of weather forecasters by intensifying from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane on Monday packing 175 mph winds, before ultimately weakening.

The strength of the storm has since fluctuated, and it was still a powerful Category 4 storm with winds of 155 mph as of Wednesday morning.

According to a Wednesday report from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, the storm could be powerful enough to reshape parts of the coast.

“Failure to adequately shelter may result in serious injury or loss of life,” forecasters wrote in the NHC report. “Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida.”

The storm has left Florida’s interstates and highways packed as state and local emergency officials oversee the largest evacuation since more than 6.8 million left ahead of Hurricane Irma in 2017. DeSantis said there have been reports of gas stations that have run out, but the Florida Highway Patrol is escorting fuel tankers around the clock. GasBuddy, a website that tracks gas prices across the country, estimated that just under a quarter of the state’s gas stations were out of fuel on Wednesday evening.

DeSantis has also called in 6,000 members of the Florida National Guard, and another 3,000 troops have been sent by other states, which he said was the largest rescue deployment in state history.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Deanne Criswell told reporters Wednesday in a separate briefing that the agency was “ready” and already had more than 1,000 employees in the state because of Hurricane Helene and that an additional 1,200 search and rescue personnel had been moved into Florida.

She strongly warned Floridians about the approaching storm. “You need to prepare for catastrophic impacts,” Criswell said. “This is going to be a serious storm.”

The state also summoned 50,000 linemen to help the millions of people who are expected to lose electricity during the storm, which DeSantis said was a national record for storm preparation. At least 500 police officers have also been brought in from out of state to help with security efforts after the storm, with DeSantis and other state officials repeatedly warning against looting.

“There is going to be a swarm of police officers,” Dave Kerner, the executive director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said. “There will be no escape from the resources of the State of Florida.”

DeSantis blasted misinformation on social media that members of his administration have tried to quickly dispel, including hoaxes that FEMA would prevent Floridians from returning home after the storm has passed. DeSantis had urged residents to heed evacuation calls made by local authorities and not risk death by drowning from the floodwaters before it was too late.

“You can’t just hunker down with that,” DeSantis said of the predicted flooding. “Mother Nature is going to win that fight.”

Gary Fineout contributed to this report.