Disaster Profile

Hurricane Milton marched across Florida on Thursday after making landfall on the state's west coast hours earlier, whipping up deadly tornadoes, destroying homes, and knocking out power to nearly 2 million customers. As yet unspecified 25 deaths have been reported.

The storm made landfall around 8:30 p.m. EDT (0030 GMT) on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour (195 kph) near Siesta Key, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Forecasters continue to warn of torrential rain, flash flooding, high winds, and possible storm surges - which occur when water moves inland from the coast - of several feet in height. Around four dozen tornadoes were also reported on Milton's approach.

The storm's arrival comes just two weeks after Hurricane Helene caused substantial damage across the southeastern US.