Some 19 tornadoes struck Florida, killing at least two pensioners as Hurricane Milton generated powerful storm surges and freak winds.
Rescue teams are searching for people trapped at a retirement community in Fort Pierce while hundreds of homes were “completely totaled” in the area.
Hurricane Milton brought winds of up to 120 mph as it made landfall in Florida, causing more than two million households to lose power. The eye of the category 1 storm is now moving from Tampa towards Orlanda.
Footage showed heavy winds battering the east coast as it landed, causing a crane to collapse and destroy part of a building in St Petersburg and ripping the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays baseball stadium.
Emergency services in Orlando, including police and firefighters, were forced to suspend their services as forecasters warned storm surge could reach up to 13ft. Flash flooding warnings are also in place across Tampa.