Crystal Coleman sits outside the remains of her home in St Lucie County, Florida, wondering where she and her daughter will spend the night.

One of at least a dozen tornadoes spawned by Hurricane Milton ripped through this low-income South Florida community, killing at least five residents. At least 16 people are known to have died in the US state.

Crystal is happy to be alive, but doesn’t know what to do next.

“Suddenly the door to my attic flew off, all the objects in my house started flying,” Ms Coleman told BBC News on Thursday.

“It was devastating, we were very scared. It felt like the tornado was in our house.”

Her neighborhood is one of many across the state devastated by Milton as it swept through the state, leaving widespread damage and millions without power.

The tornadoes formed as Milton approached the state Wednesday evening, an event that forecasters say sometimes follows tropical weather.

Parts of Crystal’s roof were torn off and the windows were blown out. Down the street, workers at a nonprofit organization handed out hundreds of hot meals Thursday. The power is out and there is no running water. People are grateful for a hot meal, a smile and a helping hand.

Destruction litters the main road. A tractor-trailer on its side. The canopy tore off a gas station. Trees uprooted. Some residents say they have reached out to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) for help, but for now they are most concerned about shelter and food for their families tonight.

Milton’s path of destruction continues to be assessed by workers across the state, who warn the death toll is likely to continue rising in the coming days.

The storm brought heavy rainfall of up to 18 inches in some areas. Neighborhoods and roads remain flooded and businesses, homes and stadiums were torn apart by the wind, but Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the state has not experienced “the worst-case scenario.”

Many were evacuated, including about 80,000 people who stayed overnight in shelters, he said.

“My feeling is that a lot of people who were in the evacuation zones have left,” DeSantis said.

Nevertheless, crews are still deployed to hundreds of rescues across the state in large vehicles, boats and helicopters. That alone includes more than 400 people rescued from a badly flooded apartment complex in Pinellas County and a Rescue of a captain by the US Coast Guard which ended up in the water clinging to a floating cooler 30 miles from shore.

Maria Bowman, 60, hunkered down in her bright pink mobile home in North Fort Myers and rode out the fierce winds of Milton.

Her home, 2,000 feet from the Caloosahatchee River and at risk of storm surge, was in evacuation zone A — the category for the most at-risk areas.

She felt her house rattle as Milton came ashore. The power went out around 10 p.m.

“It sounded like an explosion,” she told BBC News. “Boom. No electricity.”

Ms. Bowman, who says she has dealt with numerous hurricanes, says she is ready to leave the state.

“There are too many hurricanes,” she said. “One day you survive, the next you don’t. Who knows.”

Gov. DeSantis warned that flooding remains possible in the coming days. He noted that the death toll could continue to rise as the storm’s impact becomes clearer.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor has expressed relief that her city did not experience the kind of storm surge that was feared.

But the region saw destruction.

In nearby St. Petersburg, the Major League Baseball stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, was severely damaged. The wind tore apart the stadium’s dome, which glows bright orange when the team wins a home game.

A crane also broke apart and collapsed in the middle of St. Petersburg as the storm blew through.

Castor and other officials have urged for days that people in Milton’s path must flee their homes or risk death.

Milton made landfall on Wednesday evening local time as a category three hurricane, with winds of 200 km/h. Earlier in its life it was categorized more than once as a category five hurricane, indicating the most powerful type of storm.

Milton’s arrival comes two weeks after the southeastern US was ravaged by Hurricane Helene, which killed more than 200 people and left many more missing. The cleaning work is underway.

Milton, which has become a post-tropical cyclone, has passed through Florida and traveled through the Atlantic Ocean north of the Bahamas.