CNN
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Hurricane Milton hit Florida’s Gulf Coast It made landfall as a powerful Category 3 storm on Wednesday evening. The intense hurricane produced tornadoes, dumped rain across much of the state left millions without power and claimed at least 12 lives, including five people in St. Lucie County.

With the storm now moving toward the Atlantic Ocean, about 10 million residents remain threatened by dangerous coastal conditions through Friday. The storm’s dramatic and rapid intensification set a record as the fastest Atlantic hurricane on record, escalating from a tropical depression to Category 5 status in just over 48 hours, according to NASA.

Milton’s sustained winds peaked at 200 miles per hour on Monday before dropping to about 120 miles per hour when the storm made landfall near Siesta Key on Wednesday around 8:30 p.m. — less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene was classified as a category 4 made landfall in the state. storm.

Milton is the third hurricane to hit Florida this year – which has only happened during five other hurricane seasons since 1871. In no season ever have more than three hurricanes hit Florida.

Extremely warm water in the Gulf of Mexico acted as rocket fuel for the hurricane, a phenomenon made hundreds of times more likely by climate change, according to a recent analysis by the nonprofit research group Climate Central. Satellite data show that sea surface temperatures in the gulf are currently about 1 to 3 degrees Celsius warmer than compared to the long-term average from 1985 to 2012.

More than 18 inches of rain fell in St. Petersburg, which equates to a rainfall rate of 1 in 1,000 years. Flooding is also expected throughout the weekend. See where the heaviest rain hit the state:

While abundant rain in Milton is causing major flooding and swelling rivers to historic levels in some places, FEMA Director Deanne Criswell said Florida has dodged the worst-case scenario. Relief efforts are underway, including the rescue of at least 135 people from a residential care center.

As of Thursday, nearly a dozen river gauges across the state are in major flood stage. The Hillsborough River had already risen to 4.5 meters, surpassing the previous record of 15.33 meters set in 1960.

All of these gauges are expected to remain at moderate or higher flood stage through the weekend, with some not cresting until at least Sunday.

Many areas in Florida are also recovering from the aftermath of Milton-fueled supercharged tornadoes, according to Michael Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center. At least nine tornadoes ripped through St. Lucie County on Wednesday, including three in less than 25 minutes.

“We’ve never seen anything like this before,” Port St. Lucie Mayor Shannon Martin told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Thursday. “I know I’ve never seen anything like this in the 20 years I’ve been here.”

Statewide, more than 30 tornadoes have been reported since Wednesday, with more than 125 warnings issued from the National Weather Services offices in Tampa Bay, Melbourne and Miami. This is the most tornado warnings ever issued in a single day in Florida history, surpassing the previous record of 69 during Hurricane Irma in 2017.

As Florida residents assess the damage, more than 3 million people were without power Thursday morning. Florida’s power outages were most severe along the West Coast, especially in Hardee and Highlands counties.

As of Thursday morning, about a quarter of gas stations — about 2,000 — across Florida were out of fuel, according to gas price tracking platform GasBuddy. In the harder-hit areas, those numbers were higher: Nearly two-thirds of gas stations in the Tampa and St. Petersburg area were out of fuel at 10:30 a.m., and 44% were dry in Sarasota on Thursday.

Milton formed toward the end of a busy Atlantic hurricane season. Milton was the fifth hurricane to make landfall in the United States this year, joining Category 1 Beryl, Category 1 Debby, Category 2 Francine and Category 4 Helene. More hurricanes have made landfall in the United States this year than between 2021 and 2023 combined.