Hurricane Milton Makes Landfall in Florida as Category 3 Storm

ORLANDO, Fla.—Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida on Wednesday, bringing dangerous winds, life-threatening storm surge and heavy rain to a region that was pummeled by Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago .

The storm hit near Siesta Key, Fla., in Sarasota County around 8:30 p.m. ET as a Category 3 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said. Maximum sustained winds were estimated at 120 mph. Late Wednesday night, Milton was downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane, weakening further to a Category 1 early Thursday.

Before making landfall, Milton hammered Florida with several inches of rain, heavy winds, storm surge and tornadoes. The National Weather Service on Wednesday issued Florida a record number of tornado warnings, which indicate a twister has been spotted or detected by radar. The storm is likely to exacerbate the devastation wrought by Helene, which tore a path of death and destruction across several states in late September.

Millions were urged to evacuate ahead of the storm. Some faced traffic jams and found gas stations out of fuel. By Wednesday night, officials were urging residents to shelter-in-place. “The storm is here,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis . “It’s time for everybody to hunker down.”

Tampa Bay was spared a direct hit, allaying some fears of catastrophic damage to coastal communities there. The area, which is densely populated and has seen booming development on low-lying ground, is still expected to see significant effects from the storm. In St. Petersburg, which overlooks the bay, city authorities reported the collapse of a crane at a downtown construction site and damage to the roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays. No injuries were reported.

More than 2.8 million customers in Florida were without power in the early hours of Thursday, according to PowerOutage.us.

Losing power was the main concern of Charles Giglia of Sarasota. The 82-year-old retired mechanic, who recently moved to the area from Queens, N.Y., said he wasn’t able to buy a generator in time; they were all sold out.

He tried to book a flight to New York City a few days ago, but there nothing was available. His home, slightly inland from the beach, wasn’t damaged by Helene and he thinks the concrete house will likely weather Milton without too much damage.

Giglia said his community is largely empty now, save for his neighbor who told him to call if he gets into trouble.

“If I make it tonight, I’m going to be okay,” he said. “I hope I’ll be okay.”

Dangerous conditions expected

The National Hurricane Center predicted that a stretch of Florida’s coast, including Sarasota, could see up to 13 feet of storm surge. Tampa Bay, to the north, was expected to get up to 9 feet.

Parts of central and northern Florida could see up to 18 inches of rain through Thursday, which carries the risk of catastrophic and life-threatening flooding, the hurricane center said.

Forecasters also warned of strong winds and the possibility of more tornadoes in parts of central and eastern Florida early Thursday, with tropical storm conditions expected to reach the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina later in the morning.

DeSantis said there were 19 confirmed tornado touchdowns across Florida before the storm made landfall Wednesday. Several counties have reported tornado damage, he said.

The storm is expected to move quickly through Florida and emerge into the Atlantic by midday Thursday, the hurricane center said.

Widespread evacuations ordered

Officials from city mayors to President Biden pleaded with residents earlier Wednesday to evacuate while they still had the chance. Mandatory evacuations were ordered for parts of nearly every county along the western coast of Florida’s peninsula.

DeSantis said Wednesday that more than 55,000 people had evacuated to shelters. In Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, six of 17 shelters were full hours before Milton made landfall, according to the county’s website. Three of 14 shelters in Sarasota County were at capacity Wednesday evening.

Almost a quarter of gas stations across Florida were out of fuel Wednesday afternoon, according to GasBuddy. In the Tampa and St. Petersburg area, more than 60% had run dry, GasBuddy said.

Inga Nash, an insurance underwriter in St. Petersburg, said she started preparing her home on Monday for Milton’s arrival, boarding up windows and filling sandbags to stop water from coming in. Helene left water halfway up her driveway, but spared her home.

Nash, along with her husband and two children, left the house, which is in a mandatory evacuation zone, on Wednesday. They drove about 20 minutes to her in-laws’ home, which is on higher ground and not in an evacuation zone.

“When we left I was very worried, not knowing what we’re going to come back to,” the 32-year-old said Wednesday. “The unknown is what’s very frustrating.”

In the Orlando area, downtown parking garages were filled to capacity with vehicles stashed by residents hoping to protect them, and hotels were fully booked. At the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate, the lobby on Wednesday afternoon teemed with families who evacuated their homes and linemen who were preparing for post-storm repairs.

Trey and Kim Carswell, both 48 years old, sat in one corner playing a game of dominoes with their 15-year-old daughter to pass the time. The couple, Tampa residents and lifelong Floridians, are accustomed to hurricanes and have stayed put for most storms.

But this time was different, they said. Milton was heading toward Tampa Bay, and Helene had sent 4 feet of water into Trey’s mother’s home. The family evacuated along with Trey’s mother and two of her friends, as well as a Labrador and a poodle.

“After Helene, and seeing all our friends lose a lot from the storm surge, we just decided it was best to pack up and be safe,” Kim said.

Florida hunkers down

Tampa International Airport, St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport and Orlando International Airport said they would temporarily close. More than 1,900 flights within, into, or out of the U.S. were canceled Wednesday, and 2,100 were canceled for Thursday, according to FlightAware .

Tourist attractions such as Walt Disney World , Universal Studios, Tampa’s Busch Gardens and Orlando’s SeaWorld said they would close ahead of the storm.

Waffle House, whose tally of restaurant closures is often considered an informal bellwether of the severity of a storm, said on X Wednesday that it has closed dozens of locations in the Tampa, Fort Myers and Orlando areas, as well as some on the state’s east coast.

Victoria Zalic, a 32-year-old stay-at-home mom and content creator, decided to ride out the hurricane at home with her husband, two young daughters and two poodles. Her home in Manatee County, near Sarasota, wasn’t under a mandatory evacuation order, though several parts of the county are.

Zalic has a shelter in her backyard that is built for intense storms. She thought it would be better to stay than to risk her Tesla running out of juice if the family got stuck in traffic.

“It just felt safer to stay here than get stuck on the road with two dogs and two babies and a not-hurricane-proof car that could run out of electricity,” Zalic said.

Zalic said her grandmother was without power for three weeks after Hurricane Michael in 2018. She regularly stressed that Zalic should take storms seriously. Zalic said she was at peace ahead of the storm’s arrival.

“I’ve got to keep up morale. I’ve got kids, and I don’t want to freak them out,” she said. “But I really feel like we’ll be OK. I mean, we may wake up without a roof, but I do think we will be alive.”

Long-term effects

President Biden, addressing the country from the White House on Wednesday, told Floridians to take Milton seriously. “No one should be confused, it’s still expected to be one of the most, and worst, destructive hurricanes to hit Florida in over a century,” Biden said.

“Milton still carries incredible destructiveness, could wipe out communities and cause loss of life,” Biden said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has more than 1,000 people in Florida who were responding to Hurricane Helene and are ready to respond to Milton, as well as 1,200 staff preparing for search and rescue operations, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in a call with reporters Wednesday.

St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch on Wednesday warned residents that they should be prepared for significant outages, as well as for water, sewer and electrical services to be offline for an extended time.

“Because of the sustained hurricane-force winds, we are expecting extensive damage to our infrastructure, including widespread power outages that may not be restored for days or for weeks,” he said.

The governor said that more than 50,000 linemen were in the state to help restore power after the storm. Some came from as far as California, he said.

“It’s not just about where it makes landfall,” DeSantis said. “It’s going to barrel across the state of Florida.”

Write to Victoria Albert at victoria.albert@wsj.com and Arian Campo-Flores at arian.campo-flores@dowjones.com