Powerful storm batters Florida, fatalities reported

By Zehra Nur Celik

ANKARA (AA) — Hurricane Milton crashed into Florida on Wednesday, leaving millions without power and causing deaths on the state's eastern coast, according to local media.

The Category 3 storm triggered a series of tornadoes on the state's west coast before making landfall from the Gulf of Mexico, NBC News reported.

Hurricane Milton hit Siesta Key at 8.30 p.m. EDT (0030GMT), said NBC News.

By the early morning, it had weakened to a Category 1, with its center about 45 miles southwest of Cape Canaveral and winds at 90 miles per hour (145 kilometers per hour), according to NBC News.

Officials in St. Lucie county confirmed that fatalities had occurred due to the tornados on Florida's Atlantic coast, but did not specify an exact number, said the broadcaster.

Milton, the third hurricane to strike Florida this year and fifth across the US, has left over two million residents in the dark statewide, according to CNN.

President Joe Biden announced that thousands of federal personnel, including over 1,000 Coast Guard members, had been deployed to assist afflicted areas.