Hurricane Milton smashes Florida: At least 13 dead and millions without power

Amid the shocking trail of death and destruction left behind by Hurricane Milton, one boy was plucked from the deluge after surviving on a piece of floating driftwood. See photos and video.

• ‘Armageddon’: Aussie expats stare down a monster

At least 13 people have been killed by Hurricane Milton and the death toll is expected to rise as a mass search-and-rescue effort is carried out across Florida in the aftermath of the storm.

Three million households remained without power and 11 million were at risk of flooding the morning after the record-breaking storm made landfall on Florida’s west coast.

Amid the destruction there was hope. Remarkable footage showed the moment a 14-year-boy was plucked from the floodwaters after surviving on a piece of floating driftwood.

Boy's miracle survival

As residents surveyed the full toll of destruction, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the state had avoided the “worst-case scenario”, with Milton shifting south and preventing a devastating storm surge wiping through the city of Tampa.

But flash flooding occurred instead from heavy downpours, stranding at least 135 people in a Tampa aged care home. Many of the wheelchair-bound residents spent the night sitting in water up to their waste before they were rescued the next morning.

A crane collapsed into a building in downtown St Petersburg. Picture: AFP

St Petersburg was hit hardest, with winds of 162km/h and a whopping 47cm of rain.

“I’ve never seen anything like this, to get a one-two punch like this,” Pinellas County Commissioner Brian Scott said, after Hurricane Helene devastated the area two weeks ago.

The fierce winds even ripped the roof off Tropicana Field, the Major League Baseball stadium that is home to the Tampa Bay Rays. It was due to be used as a base camp to support the storm recovery effort but the staging area was relocated before the storm hit.

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister, whose officers led the rescue effort at the aged care home, said Tampa locals had sought shelter in the area because it was out of the evacuation zone for the storm surge from the ocean.

The roof was ripped off Tropicana Field. Picture: AFP

“This is a neighbourhood that doesn’t have a lot … They’ve lost everything,” he told CNN.

“These are people who live day-to-day and they have nothing … Your heart shatters for these people.”

Mr DeSantis said: “We’ll survey the damage and get people back on their feet – we’ll get through this.”

The death toll included four people killed when supercharged tornadoes spawned from the storm and touched down on the state’s east coast.

FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES BELOW: