Rescue teams plucked through debris after hurricane Milton smashed through multiple communities in Florida destroying homes in its wake.
Residents in Florida began to assess the heavy damage left behind by hurricane Milton, which killed at least eight people after making landfall in Florida on Wednesday evening.
The hurricane, which spawned multiple deadly tornados, also knocked out power to over 3 million customers and destroyed thousands of properties.
Five people were killed near Fort Pierce after their homes were battered by winds, with the other deaths attributed to falling trees.
In a dramatic scene, a helicopter crew rescued a man who was left clinging to an ice chest in the Gulf of Mexico after his fishing boat was stranded in waters roiled by hurricane Milton. The man had survived waves of up to 7.6 metres as he clung to his boat overnight, according to the Coast Guard.
Powerful winds also tore the roof from a baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane, with the full extent damage on homes and businesses yet to be seen.
Despite its destruction, some expressed relief that the damage wasn’t worse, with the hurricane sparing the major city of Tampa and a lethal storm surge scientists had warned about never materialising.
The storm came just two weeks after hurricane Helene, which killed around 227 people and wreaked havoc on communities in the area.
“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,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told a briefing in Sarasota.
He added at least 340 people and 49 pets have been rescued in ongoing efforts.
About 80,000 people spent the night in shelters, and thousands of others fled after authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders across 15 Florida counties, which has a total population of about 7.2 million people.
