Almost 3 million residents of American Florida were left without electricity due to Hurricane Milton, which hit the coast of the state on Thursday night, according to data from the monitoring portal PowerOutage.
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According to the portal, more than 2.8 million Florida residents do not have electricity.
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According to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), Milton’s maximum sustained wind speed is currently approximately 145 kilometers per hour, which corresponds to a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
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Earlier, NBC News reported that at least two people died due to Hurricane Milton in St. Lucie County in the US state of Florida.
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Earlier on Thursday, Hurricane Milton made landfall on the west coast of Florida, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
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US President Joe Biden signed an order on October 7 declaring a state of emergency in Florida due to Hurricane Milton approaching the state and ordered federal assistance to be provided to local authorities. The hurricane is expected to approach the Florida coast on Wednesday or early Thursday. Experts estimate that Milton will bring destructive waves exceeding three meters in height to the west coast of Florida, including the Tampa Bay area.
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A tropical storm is named when its accompanying wind speed reaches 62 kilometers per hour. For a hurricane to be classified as Category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which assesses potential damage from a storm, its wind speed must exceed 120 kilometers per hour. If the wind speed exceeds 150 kilometers per hour, the hurricane category will be upgraded to second, at 180 – to third, at 210 – to fourth. The fifth, most dangerous, category is assigned to hurricanes with wind speeds of more than 250 kilometers per hour.
