Fortunately for the people of Fort Myers, Milton isn’t quite “as bad as we expected,” Mayor Kevin Anderson told NBC News live, just minutes after losing power and nearly 30 minutes after Milton made landfall near Siesta Key , about 75 miles north of Fort. Miners.

Anderson said there will be “a little bit of gusty wind and some light rain.”

The city fell victim to a number of tornadoes earlier today, which “definitely caught us off guard,” Anderson said. “We didn’t expect to have that many, let alone one, but luckily it wasn’t too bad.”

Anderson said “a majority, more than normal,” of people in Fort Myers were listening to evacuation warnings and that downtown businesses were boarded up — something they had not done in the past.

According to the website poweroutage.us, there were 779,850 power customers without electricity across Florida as of 9 a.m. tonight.

Some provinces with power outages are on the Atlantic coast. Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key on the Gulf Coast around 8:30 p.m

The storm is having a major impact, with tropical storm force winds extending as far as 220 miles (350 kilometers) from the center, the National Hurricane Center said. Hurricane-force winds extended as far as 35 miles (56 kilometers) from the center, it was reported shortly before landfall.

The water is rising steadily here in downtown Fort Myers. There is a few meters of water flowing through the street.

Hurricane Milton has made landfall near Siesta Key, the National Hurricane Center said at 8:30 p.m

The massive storm’s eyewall began moving onshore earlier near Tampa and St. Petersburg. Life-threatening rain, storm surge and winds all preceded the center’s landfall and will continue, the National Hurricane Center said.

Siesta Key is a barrier island bordering Sarasota. The storm made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour, the agency said.

The federal government approved an emergency declaration ahead of Milton’s landfall, with “thousands of federal personnel on the ground” ready to respond, Biden said.

During a briefing, Biden said that at his direction, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has “pre-positioned” search and rescue teams, helicopters and high-speed water vehicles “as close to the storm as possible” so they are ready to conduct life-saving actions. missions.”

FEMA’s director will also be at Florida’s emergency operations center, and the federal government has 20 million meals and 10 million gallons of water ready, Biden said.

Hurricane Milton “still has incredible destructive power, can wipe out communities and cause loss of life,” Biden said.

The storm surge is still expected to be up to 4 meters high, he said in a news briefing, urging people to listen to local officials and follow all their safety instructions.