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It was mayhem on Florida streets Thursday (Oct 10) as Hurricane Milton tore through the US state, leaving behind a trail of massive destruction and piles of debris.

Government officials said the monster storm left at least 16 people dead, including six in St. Lucie County on Florida's Atlantic coast.

More than 11 million people still faced threats of flash and river flooding in the state. At around 11:50 am ET on Thursday, more than 3.4mn people were facing power outages across the counties.

In an update, USA’s National Hurricane Center said all alerts were lifted in the state as the storm moved out to sea.

The storm surge warning along Florida's west coast has now ended.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Thursday morning that crews across the state spent the night clearing debris.

US President Joe Biden’s administration had agreed to all of Florida’s requests for emergency assistance, he was quoted as saying by CNBC.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said there were uprooted trees and power lines everywhere.

“There are downed power lines and trees everywhere,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a post on social media.

Extensive damage in the Tampa Bay area
Tampa Mayor said in an update the city suffered extensive damage due to the storm, with more than half a million people without power in the area.

Jane Castor, however, expressed relief that Tampa didn’t see the expected surge, “saved a lot, that’s what we were really worried about.” She added that the risk of flooding was not over though.

“At 7 a.m. when high tide comes in, rivers are going to flood all over Hillsborough County, not just in the city of Tampa,” she said.

Emergency services back
Emergency services are back on streets in the state after the storm passed over.

The Orlando Police Department and the Orlando Fire Department both said they were "back on the road" in an update on X.

services were responding to the emergency calls in the state, with crew rescuing 15 people from a house hit by a tree in one incident in the Tampa area.

was mayhem on Florida streets Thursday (Oct 10) as Hurricane Milton tore through the US state, leaving behind a trail of massive destruction and piles of debris.

Government officials said the monster storm left at least 16 people dead, including six in St. Lucie County on Florida's Atlantic coast.

More than 11 million people still faced threats of flash and river flooding in the state. At around 11:50 am ET on Thursday, more than 3.4mn people were facing power outages across the counties.
According to estimates, Milton brought a 1-in-1,000-year rainfall to the US state, with the Tampa Bay area being the worst-affected.

The monster storm may have caused a loss of up to $50 billion (insured) to Florida property owners, claimed Fitch Ratings on Thursday.

The agency added that it would be the largest insured loss since Hurricane Ian in 2022.

Coming on the heels of Hurricane Helene two weeks prior, Milton would further push total insured losses for insurers in the state over $100 billion for the fifth straight year, the Fitch analysts wrote.