Hurricane drops 16 inches of rain on parts of Florida

 Newsmax:

Hurricane Milton barreled into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after plowing across Florida as a Category 3 storm, pounding cities with ferocious winds and rain, whipping up a barrage of tornadoes and causing an unknown numbers of deaths. It compounded the misery wrought by Helene while sparing Tampa a direct hit.

The storm tracked to the south in the final hours and made landfall Wednesday night in Siesta Key, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Tampa. The situation in the Tampa area was still a major emergency as St. Petersburg recorded over 16 inches (41 centimeters) of rain, prompting the National Weather Service to warn of flash flooding there as well as other parts of western and central Florida.

The storm knocked out power across a large section of Florida, with more than 3 million homes and businesses without electricity, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.

The fabric that serves as the roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team in St. Petersburg, was ripped to shreds by the fierce winds. It was not immediately clear if there was damage inside. Multiple cranes were also toppled in the storm, the weather service said.

St. Petersburg residents also could no longer get water from their household taps because a water main break led the city to shut down service.

Before Milton even made landfall, tornadoes touched down across the state. The Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce, on Florida's Atlantic Coast, was hit particularly hard, with homes destroyed and some residents killed.

"We have lost some life," St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson told WPBF News, though he wouldn't say how many people were killed.
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While Hurricane Milton weakened somewhat from its original Category 5 status, it still delivered a blow to central Florida.  Since the terrain in Florida is relatively flat it is difficult to absorb that much rain.  Florida has dealt with major hurricanes before and hopefully, it will quickly recover.

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