DeSantis: Milton Did ‘Significant’ Damage, But Thankfully Was Not ‘Worst Case Scenario’

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Hurricane Milton did significant damage throughout parts of South and Central Florida, but was not as destructive as feared, according to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

“What we can say is, the storm was significant, but thankfully, this was not the worst case scenario,  DeSantis told reporters during a news conference in Tallahassee, Thursday morning.

Milton made landfall near Siesta Key in Sarasota County at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday night, bringing significant flooding and destruction across the Tampa Bay area, along with Central and South Florida.

The storm brought extreme wind and tornadoes along with heavy rain to a wide swath of the state, but the storm surge was not as significant as Hurricane Helene’s, DeSantis said.

Sarasota County saw an 8 to 10 foot surge after Milton made landfall, while Taylor County saw a more destructive 15 to 20 foot surge in the wake of Helene, he told reporters.

The governor said as of 6:30 a.m. Thursday morning, 48 people had been rescued, and 3.1 million Floridians were without power.

The following counties saw significant outages: Sarasota: 75 percent; Hillsborough: 75 percent; Manatee: 82 percent; Hardee: 97 percent; Pinellas: 68 percent.

DeSantis said 50,000 Florida Power and Light linemen have been deployed to work on downed lines throughout the state.

The Trump Family offered assistance in South Florida, hosting 275 linemen at former President Donald Trump’s National Doral hotel in Miami.

DeSantis said 328 Department of Transportation “cut and toss” crews with over 350 pieces of heavy equipment and trucks have been deployed across impacted areas to clear debris from roads and bridges.

Tampa Airport was closed on Thursday, the governor said,  while crews repaired “minimal damage.” The airport is expected to open back up on Friday. He added that seaports will also be able to resume operations quickly.