As Hurricane Milton approaches Florida's east coast, more than 3 million households and businesses are currently without power across the state, according to poweroutage.us. The worst-hit communities are primarily located in the Tampa Bay area, with Hardee County reporting 97% of tracked customers without power and Manatee County with 85% of customers affected.
The number of power outages is expected to increase as Milton, now a Category 1 hurricane, continues its path towards the east coast of Florida. The full extent of the damage caused by the hurricane remains unclear as officials are waiting for daybreak to assess the conditions. Some recovery efforts have already begun in the early hours of Thursday.
