Hurricane Milton made landfall on Florida's west coast on Wednesday, striking a little sooner and further south than forecast, offering the state a glimmer of hope it might be spared the worst of the anticipated catastrophe.
The storm made landfall around 8:30 p.m. EDT (0030 GMT) as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour (195 kph) near Siesta Key, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Siesta Key is a barrier island town of some 4,500 off Sarasota about 60 miles (100 km) south of the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, which is home to more than 3 million people.
With the storm coming ashore before high tide, Governor Ron DeSantis said he hoped the west coast of Florida could avoid the worst of the predicted storm surge. Forecasters said seawater could rise as high as 13 feet (4 meters).