Florida is reeling from two hurricanes in as many weeks.
Just two weeks after Hurricane Helene stampeded through Florida and the Southeast, Hurricane Milton cut a swath through the middle of the state.
It touched down on the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, near Siesta Key, a barrier island in Sarasota County about 70 miles south of Tampa Bay.
Storm watchers feared the worst as Milton reached a Category 5, the highest on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, reaching wind speeds of more than 180 miles per hour in the Gulf of Mexico.
It was downgraded to a Category 3 by the time it reached land, but was still devasting, with wind gusts over 100 miles per hour, plus storm surges of 8-10 feet and more than 18 inches of rainfall in some places. As if that weren't enough, the storm also triggered dozens of tornadoes throughout its path, including several rated EF3.
Unlike Hurricane Helene, Milton did not spread its wrath north and inland over neighboring states. Instead, it quickly diminished in intensity as it passed over the Florida peninsula and out into the Atlantic.
But the storm created devastating damage in its path. Buildings and homes were destroyed, and more than two dozen deaths have been reported, many of them from the tornadoes. One of those tornadoes ripped through the Lake Placid Solar Power Plant in Highlands County, destroying hundreds of solar panels that helped power 12,000 homes in the region.

Many power lines were also downed, and initially over 3 million Floridians were without power. Recovery efforts were extensive, with nearly 3,000 state agency personnel assisting. They were also joined by multiple crews from at least many other states, even as far away as California, as well as crews from Canada.
Power restoration was swift. As of Oct. 17, utility Duke Energy had restored power to more than 99% of outages, with only about 3,000 customers (out of about 1 million outages) still without power. Most of the remaining outages were concentrated in Pasco and Pinellas counties. According to an Oct. 15 press release, many of the “malfunctioning devices are located behind homes and in residential areas where access is limited, meaning lineworkers will have to climb poles, rather than using bucket trucks.”
FPL, which saw more than 2 million customer outages, had restored power to 99% of its customers by Oct. 15 due to the efforts of 20,000 lineworkers working out of 25 staging and parking sites. Interestingly, FPL credits smart grid technology as helping to prevent 554,000 outages during the storm.
Image credit: Duke Energy
About The Author
LAEZMAN is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer who has been covering renewable power for more than 10 years. He may be reached at [email protected].