Hurricane Milton live: Three million without power and several dead after storm battered Florida

 

Photo: telegraph.co.uk

At least four people have been killed and three million left without power after Hurricane Milton battered Florida.

The storm barreled into Florida’s West Coast on Wednesday, triggering life-threatening flash flooding and storm surges as high as 13 feet (4 metres), telegraph.co.uk.

Keith Pearson, Sheriff of St Lucie County near Fort Pierce, said: “We have lost some life,” but did not specify how many were killed. The St. Lucie Medical Examiner later confirmed four fatalities.

Hurricane Milton brought winds of up to 120 mph as it made landfall in Florida, causing nearly three million households to lose power.

“We have an unprecedented number of our customers who are without power,” Tampa Electric President Archie Collins told CNN.

Footage showed heavy winds battering the east coast as it landed, causing a crane to collapse, destroying part of a building in St Petersburg and ripping the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays baseball stadium.

The hurricane was downgraded to category 1 early on Thursday morning as it moved off Florida’s west coast, with Milton expected to continue its journey away from the peninsula towards the Bahamas.

However, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor warned “it’s not over”, with flooding expected when high tide comes in this morning.