Hurricane Milton hits Florida, weakens to Category 1

Hurricane Milton made landfall at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday night near Siesta Key, Florida, as a Category 3 storm. Siesta Key is a barrier island next to Sarasota. At 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning, the center of the storm was around 45 miles west-south-west of Cape Canaveral, with maximum sustained winds 90 mph, making it a Category 1 hurricane.

Deaths have been confirmed in St. Lucie County on Florida's Atlantic coast, where officials said tornadoes touched down.

“This is just an example of our new normal, as storms become more powerful, they are moving more quickly and they’re really testing our infrastructure," St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch told the media.

The double impact of Hurricanes Helene and Milton shows how towns and cities across Florida will have to prepare and adapt to a future of more frequent and powerful storms, he said.

"The pace of change that we're seeing in the strength of these storms and the impact is really outweighing our capital investment. So we've got to look at our sewer plans, waste water, sea walls, all these things have to be improved at a rapid pace," he said.

Welch said his city was "blessed" that Milton landed 50 miles north, while adding that it was still feeling its severe effects. The city and Pinellas County asked about half a million people to evacuate and Welch said they had responded better than during Hurricane Helene.

He said that the debris left over from Helene would have taken six months to remove and city workers were forced to do as much as they could in a few days.