Governor Ron DeSantis provided an update on Hurricane Milton Thursday morning after the storm exited the state near Cape Canaveral.
He spoke from the State Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee, as the state streamed on thefloridachannel.org and the governor’s social media sites at Facebook and X.
With him were Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie, Florida Wildlife and Conservation Commission Director Roger Young, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, Florida State Guard Director Col. Mark Thieme, and Maj. Gen. John D. .Haas representing the Florida National Guard.
Hurricane Milton made landfall on Siesta Key on Florida’s Gulf Coast Wednesday evening as a major Category 3 hurricane with winds of 120 miles per hour, as the state suffered an onslaught of at least 19 tornadoes that led to several deaths. It never lost hurricane strength as it crossed the state leaving Cape Canaveral at 4 a.m. Thursday.
Hurricane Milton is still roaring across the Atlantic Ocean; multiple tornado deaths reported
At 8 a.m., the hurricane was about 75 miles east-northeast of Cape Canaveral with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. is moving northeast at a speed of 18 km/h. His eye was removed from the coast as of 4am after traveling for almost seven hours across the state.
According to poweroutage.us, more than 3.3 million customers were without power in the state as of 8:30 a.m.
Emergency officials across the state urged residents to stay indoors as crews assessed damage, including downed power lines and fallen trees. Search and rescue operations were in effect in some Gulf Coast counties.
