CNN
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Hurricane Milton hit Florida’s Gulf Coast It made landfall on Wednesday night as a strong Category 3 storm. The violent hurricane spawned tornadoes that were dropped Rainfall left millions of people without power across much of the state and killed at least 12 people, including five people in St. Lucie County.

With the storm now moving into the Atlantic Ocean, about 10 million residents remain at risk of dangerous coastal conditions through Friday. According to NASA, the storm’s dramatic and rapid intensification set a record, making it the fastest Atlantic hurricane on record, escalating from a tropical depression to Category 5 status in just over 48 hours.

Sustained wind speeds in Milton peaked at 180 mph on Monday before falling to about 120 mph as the storm made landfall near Siesta Key around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday – less than two weeks ago after Hurricane Helene made landfall in the state as a Category 4 storm.

Milton is the third hurricane to hit Florida this year – something that has only happened in five other hurricane seasons since 1871. In no recorded season has Florida been hit by more than three hurricanes.

Extremely warm water in the Gulf of Mexico acted like rocket fuel for the hurricane, a phenomenon made a hundred times more likely by climate change, according to a recent analysis by the nonprofit research group Climate Central. Satellite data shows sea surface temperatures in the Gulf at this time are about 1 to 3 degrees Celsius warmer than the long-term average from 1985 to 2012.

More than 18 inches of rain fell in St. Petersburg, representing a 1-in-1,000-year rainfall event. Flooding is expected to continue through the weekend. See where the heaviest rain hit the state:

While heavy rains in Milton are causing major flooding in some places and causing rivers to swell to historic highs, FEMA Director Deanne Criswell said Florida has dodged the worst-case scenario. Relief efforts are underway, including the rescue of at least 135 people from an assisted living facility.

As of Thursday, nearly a dozen river gauges across the state were in a severe flood stage. The Hillsborough River had already risen to 15.46 feet, surpassing the previous record of 15.33 feet set in 1960.

All of these levels are expected to remain at moderate or higher flood levels through the weekend, with some not peaking until Sunday.

Many areas in Florida are also recovering from the effects of a “supercharged” tornado spawned by Milton, according to Michael Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center. At least nine tornadoes ripped through St. Lucie County on Wednesday, including three in less than 25 minutes.

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” Port St. Lucie Mayor Shannon Martin told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Thursday. “I know I’ve never seen anything like this in the almost 20 years I’ve been here.”

Nationwide, more than 30 tornadoes have been reported since Wednesday and more than 125 warnings have been issued by National Weather Services offices in Tampa Bay, Melbourne and Miami. These are the most tornado warnings in a single day in Florida history, surpassing the previous record of 69 set during Hurricane Irma in 2017.

As Floridians assessed the damage, more than three million people were without power Thursday morning. The largest power outages were on Florida’s west coast, particularly in Hardee and Highlands counties.

About a quarter of gas stations — about 2,000 — across Florida were out of fuel as of Thursday morning, according to gas price tracking platform GasBuddy. Those numbers were higher in harder-hit areas: Nearly two-thirds of gas stations in the Tampa and St. Petersburg area were out of fuel as of 10:30 a.m. and 44% in Sarasota were dry Thursday.

Milton emerged in the Atlantic near the end of a busy hurricane season. Milton was the fifth hurricane to make landfall in the United States this year, joining Category 1 Beryl, Category 1 Debby, Category 2 Francine and Category 4 Helene. More hurricanes have made landfall in the United States this year than in the years 2021 to 2023.