Residents in Florida began to examine the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Milton, which killed at least eight people after making landfall in Florida on Wednesday evening.
The hurricane, which unleashed many devastating tornadoes, also knocked out power for almost 3 million people and destroyed thousands of homes.
Five people were murdered near Fort Pierce after their homes were pounded by winds, with the remaining deaths blamed on fallen trees.
A helicopter team rescued a guy who was clinging to an ice chest in the Gulf of Mexico after his fishing boat became trapped in waters roiled by Hurricane Milton. According to the Coast Guard, the man braved waves as high as 7.6 metres while clinging to his boat overnight.
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Powerful winds also tore off the roof of a baseball stadium and overturned a construction crane, and the damage to houses and businesses is unknown.
Despite its devastation, some were relieved that the damage was not worse, with the hurricane avoiding the large city of Tampa and a fatal storm surge that scientists had warned would never materialize.
The storm struck just two weeks after Hurricane Helene, which killed around 227 people and wreaked havoc on the surrounding communities.
Addressing reporters in Sarasota, the governor of Florida said, “You face two hurricanes in a couple of weeks — not easy to go through — but I’ve seen a lot of resilience throughout this state.”
The governor noted that at least 340 people and 49 dogs have been rescued in ongoing attempts.
Around 80,000 people spent the night in shelters, and thousands more departed as authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders in 15 Florida counties with a total population of approximately 7.2 million.
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