Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, on Wednesday evening as a Category 3 storm, with sustained winds of 120 mph (190 km/h). The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned of major destruction along Florida’s west-central coast. By moving east-northeast at 15 mph (24 km/h), Milton impacted a wide area, including Tampa Bay, with hurricane-force winds extending 35 miles from its center and tropical storm-force winds up to 250 miles northward.
Milton was downgraded to a Category 2 storm within two hours, but it left over 1.3 million homes and businesses without power.