Florida picking up the pieces after Milton: 11 dead, 3M in dark. Live updates

(USA Today) SIESTA KEY, Fla. − Hurricane Milton howled across the Florida Peninsula on Thursday, tearing a path of destruction from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic, killing at least 11 people and knocking out power to millions yet averting the “worst-case scenario” meteorologists, officials and residents had feared.

Milton did not go quietly, though, flooding neighborhoods, destroying homes, ripping the roof off a major sports venue and toppling a massive crane into an office building. Two deaths were confirmed in St. Petersburg and Volusia County, and one each in Polk and Citrus counties, as well as five in St. Lucie County on Florida’s east coast following tornadoes there.

Power outages inched higher during the day as the storm exited off the eastern coast of the state, and nearly 3 million homes and businesses were in the dark, according to poweroutage.us.

“The storm was significant, but thankfully this was not the worst-case scenario,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a briefing Thursday. He cited the storm weakening before landfall and said the storm surge “as initially reported has not been as significant overall as what was observed for Hurricane Helene.”

DeSantis said Tampa experienced a reverse storm surge that drove water away from the shoreline rather than overwhelming the city. The Florida Division of Emergency Management, in a post on social media, warned residents not to walk out into receding water because “the water WILL return through storm surge and poses a life-threatening risk.”