At least two people were killed as Hurricane Milton made landfall as a Category 3 storm near Siesta Key in the U.S. state of Florida on Wednesday night, NBC reported.
There were two confirmed deaths in St. Lucie County, the TV channel said.
Damaging winds and devastating rains from the hurricane will continue to whip through central Florida at least until Thursday morning, local time.
Hurricane Milton made landfall on October 9 near Siesta Key, a barrier island just south of Sarasota on Florida’s central west coast. Initially striking as a dangerous Category 3 storm with sustained winds of around 193 kph, Hurricane Milton has since weakened to a Category 2 as it moved inland.
As Hurricane Milton tore across Florida, it left a trail of destruction in its wake. More than 24 lakh residents were left without power on the night of October 9, according to PowerOutage.us, as the storm battered the region’s infrastructure. In addition to widespread power outages, flooding and damaged property are expected across large swathes of the state.
Although Milton continues to lose strength as it moves inland, it remains a powerful storm. The National Hurricane Center predicts that Milton will transition into a tropical storm once it exits Florida into the Atlantic Ocean on October 10.
