Just two weeks after Hurricane Helene claimed 232 lives, Hurricane Milton swept through the southern United States, leaving at least 12 dead before moving out into the Atlantic Ocean. While Helene impacted six southeastern states, Milton primarily targeted Florida.
Local media, including NBC, reported Thursday that six fatalities occurred in St. Lucie County, Florida, bringing the death toll to 12.
Milton formed in the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall in Sarasota County on Wednesday afternoon. By Thursday afternoon, the storm had moved eastward through Florida and was heading into the central Atlantic.
Milton was classified as a Category 3 hurricane at landfall on the five-point scale, but it quickly weakened to Category 2 within 90 minutes and dropped to Category 1 by early Thursday morning. Despite its rapid weakening, Milton caused significant damage, with winds reaching 121 mph and up to 17.7 inches of rainfall in some areas. NBC reported that 3.4 million households were without power as of noon Thursday.
While severe, Milton’s devastation was less extensive than Hurricane Helene’s. Helene, which originated as a tropical storm in the western Caribbean on September 24, made landfall in Florida two days later as a powerful Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 mph. The storm swept through North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia before dissipating on September 29. Helene resulted in 232 deaths, the highest toll since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
As Milton approached, local authorities acted swiftly. The National Weather Service predicted it could be “the strongest hurricane to land in Florida in the past 100 years.” In preparation for the storm, Florida’s government issued mandatory evacuation orders for 7.2 million residents across 15 counties.
In a press release on Thursday, President Joe Biden noted that “38 tornadoes swept through 13 counties” and credited the 80,000 residents who evacuated the night before with helping to mitigate the storm’s damage. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis acknowledged the “significant destruction” but expressed relief that the worst-case scenario had been avoided.
