Millions without power in Florida after Hurricane Milton churns across the state

Millions of people in Florida were without power Thursday after Hurricane Milton spawned tornados, flooding, powerful winds and left multiple people dead.

Authorities in Florida are currently assessing the damage after Milton made landfall Wednesday evening as a Category 3 storm near Siesta Key on Florida’s west coast about 70 miles south of Tampa Bay.

The storm churned east-northeastward toward Cape Canaveral with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour and is moving off the coast of Florida into the Atlantic, according to the National Hurricane Center.

More than 3 million people were left without power in Florida, according to PowerOutage.us.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida had avoided the worst-case scenario, a major hurricane directly hitting the densely populated Tampa Bay area. Earlier this week, Milton was a catastrophic Category 5 storm on track to make landfall near Tampa, but weakened before hitting Siesta Key.

DeSantis said the storm had sucked water out from the Tampa area, rather than causing a 10- to 15-foot storm surge.

“In that sense, we did not have as much surge overall than we did with Hurricane Helene just a couple weeks ago,” DeSantis told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Thursday morning. The power outages, however, are larger than those caused by Helene, and there is also damage on Florida’s east coast, he said.

Milton spawned multiple tornados ahead of landfall on Wednesday, with the National Weather Service confirming five of the seven reported. Gov. Ron DeSantis said earlier that 19 tornado touchdowns had been confirmed.

At least four people were confirmed dead in St. Lucie County from two tornadoes that touched down around 4:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, according to the county sheriff.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates