Category 3 Milton landed as a Category 3 storm with 120 mile-per-hour winds at around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9, on the west-central coast of Florida in Siesta Key near Sarasota , the National Hurricane Center said.
Winds had earlier peaked at 160 mph when it hit Cat 5 status on Tuesday, Oct. 8.
Numerous tornadoes were reported before landfall, including in areas well south of the eye of the storm.
"For many, Milton may be a once-in-a-lifetime hurricane in terms of severity." said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter,
Potentially deadly 10 to 15 feet of storm surge is predicted for the Tampa-Sarasota area. Some areas of central Florida could see up to 12 to 18 inches of rainfall.
Millions of people have evacuated from Florida's west-central coast.
This continues to be a developing story. Check back to Daily Voice for updates.
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