Hurricane Milton: Coast Guard saves man clinging to esky as death toll rises to 14

Footage has captured the dramatic moment a man clinging on to his esky is rescued as the death toll from Hurricane Milton rises. See the photos and video.

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A man barely clinging on to his esky has been dramatically rescued 50km out to sea as the death toll from Hurricane Milton rises to 14.

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, a fisherman was rescued by the US Coast Guard in the Gulf of Mexico after his boat was stranded overnight in waters roiled by Hurricane Milton.

In a video posted by the Coast Guard, a diver is lowered from the helicopter before swimming to the stranded man and airlifting him to safety.

A helicopter crew rescued a man clinging to an esky. Picture: Instagram

“This man survived in a nightmare scenario for even the most experienced mariner,” Lieutenant Commander Dana Grady of the US Coast Guard said.

“To understand the severity of the hurricane conditions, we estimate he experienced approximately 75 to 90mph winds, 20- to 25-foot (six to seven metre ) seas, for an extended period of time to include overnight.

“He survived because of a lifejacket, his emergency position indicating locator beacon and a cooler.”

The fisherman was stranded in the ocean after his boat broke down. Picture: Instagram

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.

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Originally published as Hurricane Milton: Coast Guard saves man clinging to esky as death toll rises to 14