More than 3 million people are without power and more than 100 rescue missions were underway in Florida on Thursday after Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key last night as a Category 3 storm, spawning tornadoes that killed four people in St. .Lucie County.

Milton, a Category 1 storm at the time of this report, is currently moving off the east coast of Florida after battering the state with devastating winds and dangerous flooding.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that 48 people have been rescued so far and that “hundreds of rescuers are involved this morning in more than 125 active missions in 26 different counties.”

“The storm was significant, but fortunately it was not the worst-case scenario,” DeSantis said. “The storm caused extensive destruction and damage. Tornadoes devastated portions of the state’s east coast. Flooding occurred on the west and east coasts, and high winds lashed the state, especially in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota counties.”

ROOF OF TROPICANA FIELD TORN OPEN BY HURRICANE MILTON

On Thursday, October 10, a construction crane fell into an office building that houses the headquarters of the Tampa Bay Times. (Tampa Bay Times via AP)

“Heavy rainfall totaling more than 10 to 18 inches has been observed over the past 24 hours across much of the Tampa Bay area, Nature Coast, and is spreading eastward along the I-4 corridor toward Sanford,” DeSantis added to it. “Isolated pockets of up to 7 inches of rain were observed in Pinellas and coastal Hillsborough counties.”

“Water levels are expected to continue rising along rivers and waterways in northeast and west central Florida, with many predicting they will remain within levels or reach moderate to flood stage in the coming days,” he continued. “Right now it looks like Sarasota County has had the largest storm surge, probably somewhere between 8 and 10 feet.”

Water rescues have been reported in Hillsborough County, Orlando and Clearwater, while law enforcement in other parts of the state are warning locals to stay off the roads to avoid downed power lines.

Flooding is seen in Punta Gorda, Florida, on Thursday, October 10, following Hurricane Milton. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said Thursday that “what we were really concerned about was the storm surge. Luckily we didn’t see the climax of it, but it’s not over yet.

“High tide will flood rivers this morning. All of Hillsborough County, not just the city of Tampa,” she added.

In St. Petersburg, where the roof was torn off the Tampa Bay Rays’ Tropicana Field, 18 inches of rain was recorded in a 24-hour period, according to Fox Weather.

Tornado damage to the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office building after Hurricane Milton. (Eric Hasert/TCPALM / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

HURRICANE MILTON FORCES ST. PETERSBURG CRANE RAID

“It is imperative that everyone stays indoors and off the roads. We have hundreds of power line outages,” Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said Thursday morning. “We have cut down trees and we are actively working to make the city and streets safe. So please stay indoors until we have made everything clear to you.”

St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson also confirmed to Fox Weather that there have been seventeen tornadoes and several fatalities in his county, while “a rescue mission is underway and hundreds of homes have been destroyed.”

Some parts of Florida’s west coast have seen up to 10 feet of water rushing in from the Gulf, while a storm surge of up to 5 feet is expected from Jacksonville to Cape Canaveral.

As of 8 a.m. ET Thursday, the storm was currently about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northeast of Cape Canaveral.

Volusia County Fire Rescue personnel responded to a pre-dawn flood call as Hurricane Milton passed through Daytona, Florida on Thursday, October 10. (Nadia Zomorodian/News-Journal/USA Today Network/Reuters)

DeSantis said more than 3.1 million people across Florida are without power.

Melissa Seixas, president of Duke Energy, told “Fox & Friends” that more than 800,000 of its customers are without power in 35 counties across the state.

“We are now starting to go out to carry out damage assessments. We’ll do this with boots on the ground, we’ll do it with helicopters and drones, we really need that line of sight to tell us exactly what we’re dealing with so far. as damage,” she added. “We expect it to range from significant poles down, wires down, a lot of tree debris, also dealing with the debris left over from Helene and probably flooding and storm surge in places.”

In Orlando, first responders were seen in boats performing water rescues of residents trapped in a flooded apartment building.

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office added Thursday: “We know some bridges in the county are not passable” and “We urge residents and business owners to stay off the roads and give our emergency responders and utilities time to to work.”

HURRICANE MILTON LEADS TO DEADLY TORNADO OUTBREAK IN SOUTH FLORIDA

Boats rest at a garden in Punta Gorda after Hurricane Milton’s passage through the area. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Palm Beach County Fire Rescue said late last night that it “responded this afternoon to multiple reports of tornadoes, associated injuries and trapped people in the Wellington, Acreage and Loxahatchee areas.

“Firefighters located and rescued multiple people from damaged structures and vehicles,” the report said. “Some were trapped under rubble or trapped in overturned vehicles tossed by high winds.”

Milton’s catastrophic landfall occurred just two weeks after Hurricane Helene, which ravaged Florida before wreaking havoc in North Carolina. Florida residents have spent the interim boarding up windows and evacuating their homes in preparation for Milton.

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President Biden declared Florida a disaster area prior to Milton’s landfall to facilitate FEMA preparations and responses.