Hurricane Milton inundates Florida with dangerous flooding after landfall

Tornado flattened homes like "a weight dropped from the sky," St. Lucie County resident tells local paper

As authorities report fatalities have occurred in Florida due to tornadoes spawned from Hurricane Milton, details are trickling in regarding the extensiveness of the devastation.

A witness told Treasure Coast Newspapers that a tornado was spotted at the Spanish Lakes Country Club north of Port St. Lucie, along Florida’s Atlantic coast.

“It looked like someone had dropped a weight from the sky and flattened a bunch of houses,” Doug Anderson, a resident of Lakewood Park in St. Lucie County, told the news outlet.

Anderson said he witnessed numerous people with injuries, and property damage from the tornado was also extensive.

“One of the last houses I went to looked like it had been ripped in half,” he was quoted as saying. “The people were out front crying.”

Water rescue underway at Plant City Holiday Inn, Hillsborough sheriff says

Water rescues are now underway in Hillsborough County, the sheriff’s office said.

There are reports of people trapped at a Holiday Inn near Interstate 4 in Plant City, with water rushing in to the bottom floor. Plant City is east of Tampa.

“We don’t know how many people are staying at the hotel. We just know we have to go rescue them,” Sheriff Chad Chronister told HGENEWS.

The sheriff said rescuers will be using amphibious vehicles to reach people inside the hotel.

Col. Anthony Collins of the sheriff’s office said they are also responding to an assisted living facility with dozens of patients reportedly unable to exit due to flooding.

“This assisted living facility is not in a flood zone. They’re not in an evacuation zone,” said Chronister. “They never thought in a million years they would have this kind of water. Now they’re in too deep.”

several communities in the Port St. Lucie area were impacted by direct hits of tornadoes overnight, according to the city manager.

One of the areas hit by tornadoes was a senior mobile home retirement community, Port St. Lucie Assistant City Manager Teresa Lamar-Sarno said.

First responders in the area are working on search and rescue where needed,

Lamar-Sarno told HGENEWS Victor Blackwell on Thursday morning.

“We’ve had downed traffic lights, we’ve had homes hit with tornadoes, we have downed trees, downed power lines, water on the roads,” she added.

Crews are receiving consistent calls from residents while dealing with strong winds in the area.

“We’re still in it with 50 mph winds,” Lamar-Sarno said.

Once daylight breaks, crews will be able to better assess the areas that were damaged by the tornadoes, authorities said.

St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson previously told HGENEWS that fatalities were reported after a tornado ripped through a mobile home retirement community in St. Lucie County.