At least 16 fatalities have been reported in connection with Hurricane Milton which hit the US state of Florida, reports ABC News.
They include six deaths in St. Lucie County, where a dozen tornadoes were reported; four storm-related deaths in Volusia County; two deaths in St. Petersburg; and one death in Citrus County, where Florida Highway Patrol said a man died after colliding with a falling tree.
The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, said that so far about a thousand people have been rescued.
More than 2.6 million people are still without power in Florida, according to PowerOutage.us.
Central Florida's Highlands County has the highest number of customers without power.
Meanwhile, Deanne Criswell, Administrator of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said Milton's impact was not as devastating as feared. But there are still many people affected by it, she added at a briefing in Sarasota.
The 38 tornadoes that hit Florida have caused considerable damage on a level that Floridians have never seen from a tornado, Criswell emphasized.
Category 3 Hurricane Milton had made landfall on Florida's west coast near Siesta Key at 8:30pm local time Wednesday.
