- Hurricane Milton hits Florida, causes tornadoes, power outages
- Over 3 million without power; casualties reported
- Storm linked to climate change, moving towards Georgia
Hurricane Milton wreaked havoc in Florida, spawning tornadoes, torrential rains, and furious winds that damaged homes and knocked out electricity to millions of people.
While the National Hurricane Center said on Thursday that the storm, which had landed on the state’s western coast hours earlier, had fallen to a Category 1 hurricane, it was still moving over Florida at 150 km/h (93 mph).
On Wednesday, Milton landed as a Category 3 hurricane near Siesta Key, Florida, at about 8:30 pm (00:30 GMT). It had maximum sustained winds of 195km/h (121mph).
According to experts, despite losing steam, the storm is anticipated to remain hurricane strength as it traverses the Florida peninsula and emerges into the Atlantic on Thursday.
As the storm approached land, at least 19 tornadoes blasted through southern Florida, hundreds of miles from its centre.
According to Poweroutage.us, which tracks supplies, more than 3 million people in Florida were without power as of 3:58 am (07:58 GMT), with the state’s west coast being the most hit.
The number of casualties is still unknown. According to St Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson, many persons were killed in a senior community called Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce, South Florida.
The sheriff was unable to confirm the number of deaths and injuries but said rescue crews were still checking damaged homes.
Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro reported from Orlando, Florida, that some residents preferred to ride out the hurricane and seek refuge in place.
“We will not know their fate until the light of day when the storm passes,” according to her.
In a Wednesday evening news briefing, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned that the hurricane had landed on the state’s coastline and that safe evacuation was no longer possible.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration attributed the above-average Atlantic hurricane season to the La Nina weather pattern and warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures. The total number of hurricanes has already surpassed last year’s figure.
According to Oliver Carpenter, head of Environmental Risk, Resilience, a University of Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies spinoff, climate change is influencing hurricane activity in the North Atlantic.
“[It] supercharges them, making them more destructive and raising the danger of significant harm. Tropical cyclones exist naturally, but climate change is causing higher ocean and air temperatures, resulting in more violent, larger, and longer-lasting storms,” he said.
While Milton is forecast to cause the most damage in western Florida, the neighbouring state of Georgia, which is still recovering from last month’s Hurricane Helene, is also braced for impact.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp cautioned people in the state’s coastal areas to brace themselves for falling trees, scattered power outages, and probable flooding near the water.
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US President Joe Biden has pledged support for the impacted regions. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Obama also labelled misinformation regarding the federal emergency response to Milton and Helene as “un-American”.
“Recently, there has been a reckless, irresponsible, and unrelenting dissemination of falsehoods and blatant lies about what is happening. “It undermines trust in the people of Florida,” Biden stated. “It’s harmful to those who most need the help.”
Biden stated that claims were made that property was being confiscated, which was “simply not true”. However, Republican nominee Donald Trump has reiterated that assertion on the campaign trail as he seeks a second term as president.
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