Hurricane Milton has tragically taken the lives of at least 14 individuals in Florida, with local media confirming five of those fatalities resulted from tornadoes in St. Lucie County, located along the state’s Atlantic coast, as reported on Friday.
Prior to making landfall, the potent storm triggered an outbreak of tornadoes that left millions of residents without power, according to NBC News.
Milton made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane, delivering unprecedented rainfall to parts of the Tampa Bay area on the Gulf coast, an event deemed a once-in-a-thousand-year occurrence. The hurricane hit near Siesta Key, a barrier island situated close to Sarasota, at 8:30 p.m. local time (0030 GMT) on Wednesday.
Currently, Milton has been reclassified as a post-tropical cyclone and is expected to continue weakening over the next few days.
In response to the devastation, various national and local organizations are actively collecting donations to support the affected communities in Florida, as reported by NBC News.
