Hurricane Milton makes Florida landfall with warnings of life-threatening storm surge

More than 2m homes and businesses are now without power across Florida, with whole neighbourhoods going dark

Deaths have been confirmed in St Lucie County on the state’s east coast where officials said tornadoes had hit, although the number of fatalities is unclear

Millions fled the state throughout Wednesday as dozens of flash flood, tornado and storm surge warnings were put in place

The “extremely dangerous” and “life-threatening” Hurricane Milton made landfall in Siesta Key, Florida, the US National Hurricane Center says

It arrived as a category three storm, with warnings of extreme winds and flash flooding, soon after Governor Ron DeSantis warned that the time for safe evacuation had passed

Earlier, President Joe Biden said it would be “one of the most destructive hurricanes in a century” and criticised a “reckless” promotion of “outright lies” by Donald Trump about the government’s response

Milton’s arrival comes two weeks after Hurricane Helene hit the Gulf Coast as a category four storm, killing at least 225 people across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina

The hurricane made landfall about four hours ago near Siesta Key, bringing with it 120mph (205km/h) winds and “life-threatening” storm surge and flooding

The storm is still tracking across Florida but has since weakened to a category two – although it still remains extremely dangerous

BBC