Hurricane Milton gone but scars remain, death toll at 16

SARASOTA - More than three million people are without power across hurricane-stricken Florida.

Roofs are ripped off from coast to coast, including one over the Tropicana Field baseball stadium in St. Petersburg. Parts of Sarasota, Fort Myers and other Gulf Coast communities are underwater, flooded by up to 6 feet of storm surge from Hurricane Milton.

Homes and buildings exploded from a record-setting string of tornadoes across the state, including one that leveled a large St. Lucie Sheriff’s Department facility. The death toll is at least 11 and could still climb, including five people who died during two confirmed tornadoes that swept St. Lucie County, Sheriff Keith Pearson said. Two others died in St. Petersburg, Police Chief Tony Holloway told the Tampa Bay Times.

Volusia County spokespeople confirmed three more deaths there to the Miami Herald, two due to falling trees. Another woman died in Citrus County, also due to a falling tree, NBC reported.

Hurricane Milton cut a scar of damage across Central Florida after making landfall on Siesta Key Wednesday evening as a Category 3 storm packing 120 mph winds. It flooded inland communities near Orlando and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands. It finally pulled away from the other side of the state Thursday morning, just north of Cape Canaveral, leaving storm surge and more flooding rain in its wake.