Hurricane Milton's destruction and flurry of tornadoes in Florida captured in images
Hurricane Milton's arrival has unleashed a torrent of extreme weather across Florida this week with residents recovering from a combination of strong winds, rain and even tornadoes.
At least 10 people have been killed and millions have been left without power after the hurricane made landfall as a category three storm on Wednesday.
The hurricane whipped up winds of more than 160 kilometres per hour, triggered dozens of tornadoes and sucked water out of Tampa Bay.
Hurricane Milton dumped a huge amount of water over Florida.
Milton charged towards Tampa until a change
Milton originated in the Gulf Of Mexico as a tropical storm on October 5 and grew from a category one to a category five storm in less than 24 hours.
As it approached Florida's west coast, there were fears that it would hit Tampa, a city of about 3 million people, in what would have been the first direct hit on the city since 1921.
Forecasters predicted the hurricane would hit Tampa, Florida.
But the hurricane tracked south just hours before it made landfall and hit Siesta Key, near Sarasota, on Wednesday October 9 about8:30pm (local time) where heavy rain flooded roads.
Hurricane Milton made landfall in Siesta Key.
Saildrone reported that Milton caused wave heights of more than 8.5 metres and wind gusts of 66 knots (122kph) in the Gulf Of Mexico before it hit the coast.
The storm was downgraded to a category two hurricane about 90 minutes after making landfall, but its force still ripped roofs off buildings and cut power to millions.
PowerOutage.us, which tracks power usage, said more than 3 million customers lost power in Florida when the storm hit.
About 3 million people lost power when the hurricane hit.
Milton was downgraded to a category one storm on Thursday as it crossed into the Atlantic Ocean, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Hurricane triggers dozens of destructive tornadoes
Hurricane Milton spawned dozens of deadly tornadoes, even before it made landfall.
While tornadoes are common in Florida, the National Weather Service issued 126 warnings for the twisters across state upon Milton's impact.
NOAA's Storm Prediction Centre said there had been 38 eyewitness reports of tornadoes across Florida.
A tornado destroyed this woman's home near Wellington, Florida.
US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at least 10 people had died in the hurricane, and that it appeared they were killed by the tornadoes.
US authorities say five people died in St Lucie County.
Five of the people who died were in St Lucie County, according to county spokesperson Erick Glll, including two people from a retirement community.
FEMA says most of the damage across Florida was caused by tornadoes.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) head Deanne Criswell said much of the severe damage reported across the state had been caused by tornadoes.
She said "evacuation orders saved lives".
Tornadoes caused by Hurricane Milton overturned cars in Florida.
Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini told AP that the ferocity of this storm's tornadoes was unusual.
"Hurricanes do produce tornadoes, but they're usually weak. What we saw today was much closer to what we see in the Great Plains in the spring," he said.
'Reverse storm surge' sucks water out of Tampa Bay
In Tampa, Hurricane Milton's arrival sucked water out of Tampa Bay in a "reverse storm surge", despite initial fears the storm would flood the city.
The NOAA Administration gauge said water levels dropped about 1.5 metres late on Wednesday night before the storm hit, but returned to normal the next morning.
A reverse storm surge happens when wind blowing away from the shore pushes sea water away from the coast causing water to recede from the shoreline, according to Penslyvannia State University's Institute of Energy and the Environment.
The Institute said the phenomenon is caused when a storm makes landfall in a way that strong, counterclockwise winds blow off shore and push the sea away from the shoreline.
Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Hurricane Ian in 2022 caused a similar effect at Tampa Bay.
Strong wind tears roofs off buildings, destroys cranes
Milton whipped up strong winds and dumped rain over Florida just two weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded streets and homes in the state's west.
The National Weather Service said about 48 centimetres of rain fell in the St Petersburg area, just west of Tampa.
Homes in St Petersburg were surrounded by flood water.
Hurricane Milton produced maximum sustained winds of about 165kph and a 3 metre storm surge for Sarasota Country.
The winds around St Petersburg were so strong that it ripped off the fabric roof of the Tropicana Field stadium, brought down tree limbs and power lines.
The roof of the Tropicana Field flew off during Hurricane Milton.
It also caused a crane to collapse into an office building in the city, tearing a hole through the top of the complex.
No one was injured but local authorities had to block off surrounding streets to remove the twisted crane from the building.
Strong winds caused this crane to crash into a building.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that while the storm "was significant" it "was not the worst-case scenario."
Ms Criswell said Milton's impact was not as destructive as feared.
"We did not have the extreme impacts of the worst case scenario that we prepared for, but there's still so many people that have been impacted by this," she said at a press briefing in Sarasota.
By：https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-11/hurricane-milton-tornadoes-wind-rain-deaths/104459586(责任编辑：admin)
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