Hurricane Milton live: Florida attempts to recover from ‘once in a lifetime’ storm as 1.6m still without power

Florida is now facing a long road to recovery following back-to-back “once in a lifetime” storms from Hurricanes Milton and Helene.

At least 17 people have been killed as a result of Hurricane Milton which made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday night near Sarasota County’s Siesta Key, spawning dozens of tornadoes, 28ft waves, strong winds, heavy rainfall, and devastating storm surge.

Days later, the threat to life is far from over with 1.6 million homes still without power across Florida as of Saturday morning and forecasters warning that the threat of dangerous flooding will remain in place for days or even weeks.

Meanwhile a phosphate mine operator warned that during the storm its facility dumped thousands of gallons of pollution into Tampa Bay as drains overflowed.

Authorities and residents are working to assess the extent of the damage from the storm, with those in the west-central region the worst impacted. More than 50,000 linemen have been deployed in an effort to restore power, Governor Ron DeSantis said.