Death toll from Hurricane Milton rises as Florida picks up the pieces from the storm’s destruction

(FOX WEATHER) – Power and other utilities continue to slowly be restored across Florida after Hurricane Milton’s less than 12-hour trek across the state, leaving behind more than 4 million without electricity at its peak and neighborhoods flooded.

Milton is being blamed for at least 17 deaths across eight counties in Florida. Hurricane Milton became a powerful Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall near Sarasota on Wednesday as a Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

Before the hurricane’s arrival, evacuation orders were issued for around 6 million residents, with officials warning the hurricane was on a trajectory to produce an unsurvivable storm surge around Tampa Bay.