Over 2 million without power as Hurricane Milton wallops Florida with destructive winds, flooding

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Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday evening in Siesta Key, Florida, as a powerful Category 3 storm — causing life-threatening storm surge, extreme winds and flash flooding.

Siesta Key is located just outside Sarasota and about 60 miles south of Tampa.

The storm was lashing the state with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph at landfall, but those winds have since decreased as it moved inland. Still, the storm is expected to maintain hurricane intensity as it moves across Florida overnight.

More than 2 million customers in the state were without power as of Wednesday night, according to poweroutage.us.

Hurricane Milton could double in size as it barrels toward Florida

Areas near Sarasota County are projected to get up to 13 feet of storm surge. In Tampa Bay, storm surge is anticipated to be up to 9 feet, slightly lower than initially projected.

"The deepest water will occur along the immediate coast near and to the south of the landfall location," the National Weather Service says.

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In addition, more than 100 tornado warnings were issued Wednesday— with multiple sightings. One of those reported tornadoes hit just outside Fort Myers Wednesday — damaging structures and bringing down power lines.

Tornadoes spin up as Hurricane Milton begins to lash Florida

Mandatory evacuations are in place up and down Florida’s Gulf Coast. Shelters quickly began filling up as the National Weather Service said Wednesday afternoon that it's "now time to shelter-in-place."

The storm is expected to continue northeast and toward the Orlando area — dumping about a foot of rain before exiting the state.

Hurricane Milton brings strong winds ashore near Sarasota.

Orlando International Airport closed on Wednesday, following the lead of other major airports in the state, including Tampa International.

The storm also forced the closure of three of the major theme parks in Orlando — Disney World, Universal and SeaWorld.

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