DeSantis says Florida has now entered the period where there are "fatalities that are preventable", saying there have been deaths due to "interaction with power lines in water".

He urges residents not to wade into floodwaters and to use generators properly and make sure they are outside homes.

He adds organisations can help if assistance is needed, particularly when it comes to damage to people's homes.

The governor urges people to reach out to a 24-hour help hotline.

He says they have activated the Florida disaster fund where people can make tax deductible charitable contributions.

On airports, DeSantis says Sarasota Bradenton International Airport is due to reopen at 06:00 EST (11:00 BST) on Saturday and St Pete-Clearwater International Airport will open today at 16:00 EST (21:00 BST).

Nineteen school districts reopened today, and he says at least seven others are expected to open on Monday.

Image source, Reuters

DeSantis goes on to say that wastewater stations have been damaged by the storm.

Thousands of litres of water have been delivered to Campbell Park Elementary School, he adds.

He says 2,200 truck loads of debris were removed over a 72-hour period, saying he doesn't think there has "ever been that much debris removed in such a short period of time".

State roads have been cleared and bridges have been inspected, he adds.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis is speaking now.

He says 23 search and rescue teams have been deployed, and more than 1,600 people and 140 animals have been rescued.

It is "still hazardous but at least somewhat safe", he says.

On power restoration, he says 1.6 million accounts have been restored in Florida. There are still 2.4 million without power.

DeSantis adds that where the storm made landfall, there "wasn't as much damage to the power infrastructure".

Image source, Getty Images

Ron DeSantis will host a press conference at 11:00 EST (16:00 BST) today in St Petersburg, Florida - in around fifteen minutes time.

He will be joined by Kevin Guthrie, Florida Division of Emergency's management director, and Major General John D. Haas, the Adjutant General of Florida, to provide updates on the recovery effort following the hurricane.

DeSantis also held one yesterday, where he told people to expect more flooding in the coming days, and detailed the extensive search and rescue operations involving more than 35,000 officers.

He told press the damage wreaked is "not the worst-case scenario," but that "a lot more" will need to be done to assess its extent.

Image source, Getty Images

Authorities have issued warnings over downed power cables that could still be live, as clean-up operations continue.

In a post on X, Orange County Sheriff's Office says: "If you see downed power lines in your path, change direction immediately."

And that advice is echoed by the National Weather Service, external, which tells people to avoid damaged power lines, "whether they're fallen to the ground of are dangling overhead".

A man is believed to have died after apparently stepping on a downed power line while cleaning debris from Hurricane Milton, according to CNN, which cites the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Just two weeks after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on parts of Florida, Milton followed in its wake, destroying homes and livelihoods.

"It ain't much, but it was ours," Natasha Ducre tells the BBC's US partner CBS, after the roof was blown off her home in their neighbourhood close to the Manatee River, about a 45-minute drive south of Tampa.

"What little bit we did have is gone," she said. "It's gone."

She left with husband Terry on Wednesday night, leaving the house he grew up in to be destroyed. Natasha says she thinks the decision saved their lives.

Now, the couple are staying with Terry's mother, as shelters are full and hotel prices have skyrocketed.

"I don't have no answers," Natasha adds. "What is my next move? What am I going to do?"

Tampa evacuee Lillian Bicart, 80, says flooding severely damaged her home.

"I have to sit down and think what I'm going to do, because I lose everything, everything too wet," Bicart tells CBS Mornings. "I never think about this. This is a bad dream, very bad."

A viral TikTok sensation survived Hurricane Milton from his boat in Tampa, US media reports.

Joseph Malinowksi - known online as Lieutenant Dan - refused to leave his boat when authorities in Florida issued evacuation orders. "I'm fine", he told a local reporter, external after Milton passed through Tampa.

Malinowski was documented widely on TikTok, external by Terrence Concannon, a student at the University of Tampa, NBC News reported before the storm.

Concannon gave Malinowski the moniker Lieutenant Dan because of his similarity to the character in the film "Forrest Gump", who refused to leave his boat in a hurricane.

Malinowski's refusal to evacuate went viral on the platform and garnered millions of views, as users worried he would not survive the storm.

When Milton made landfall, Malinowski was still on board - marking the second hurricane he has weathered at sea, having also stayed on his boat during Hurricane Helene.

Image source, Reuters

Hurricane Milton caused travel chaos for many, as airports and airlines closed down during the worst of the storm.

While many airports have now reopened, lots of flights remain cancelled. Passengers are advised to check in with their airline for their flight status.

Open:

Orlando International Airport

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport

Jacksonville International Airport

Miami International Airport

Orlando Sanford International Airport

Tampa International Airport

Southwest Florida International Airport

Closed:

Sarasota Bradenton International Airport

St Pete-Clearwater International airport

Daytona Beach International Airport: Closed until 14:00 local time

Image source, Reuters

Ahead of Hurricane Milton's arrival, millions of people along Florida's Gulf Coast were under evacuation orders.

But there are people who said they were unable or unwilling to leave, citing issues including traffic and petrol shortages.

Tampa resident Chynna Perkins said she considered leaving, along with her husband and two dogs, but decided to stay.

"I don't think people really understand how much planning has to go into a decision like this," she said.

Perkins added that she wasn't sure if she would have been able to evacuate, even if she had decided to leave, citing heavy traffic and "barely any" gas.

Nearly a quarter of Florida's petrol stations were out of fuel on Wednesday, according to market tracker GasBuddy.

In Orlando, a couple from England on holiday made the decision to stay in their hotel. Melissa Rutter and Daniel King said despite having a car, options to flee were impractical due to traffic jams.

And in Fort Myers, mobile-home resident Jamie Watts and his wife sheltered in a hotel, after losing their previous trailer to Hurricane Ian in 2022.

"My wife's happy. We're not in that tin can," Watts said.

"We stayed during Ian and literally watched my roof tear off my house," he added, saying this time he was "going to be a little safer."

Image source, Reuters

If you're just joining the page now, here's the latest in the wake of the storm:

• Hurricane Milton made landfall on Florida's west coast on Wednesday evening
• It spent about 12 hours crossing central Florida
• After moving east out of Florida on Thursday morning, Hurricane Milton weakened rapidly in the cooler waters of the Atlantic Ocean
• It has now lost all its tropical cyclone characteristics, and is essentially a small depression well
• There have been at least 16 deaths attributed to the storm, according to the BBC's US partner CBS, including in tornadoes that were spawned by the hurricane

• More than 2.5 million customers remain without power in Florida, with governor Ron DeSantis saying the state avoided the "worst case scenario"
• Rescue operations continue, with 430 residents pulled from one apartment complex where flooding reached the second floor balcony
• And false images circulating on social media, claiming to show Hurricane Milton, have been accumulating millions of views this week. You can read more from BBC Verify's analysis on that here.

Satellite images show scale of storm damagepublished at 12:04 British Summer Time 11 October

12:04 BST 11 October

By Emma Pengelly

Satellite images uncovering some of the damage caused by Hurricane Milton's intense wind and rain have been released today.

One of the photos captured yesterday by Maxar, a US-based space technology company, shows the destruction of aeroplane hangars at Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg on the west coast of Florida.

Image source, Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies

Several structures appear to be flattened and have lost their roofs. A plane can also be seen amongst the debris, although it is unclear what damage it sustained.

Another image shows that mounds of sand have built up on the streets of Holmes Beach on Anna Maria island. Flooding and piles of debris outside homes is also visible.

In other photos, the roof of Tropicana Field stadium has been almost entirely ripped off and there is extensive roof and ground damage at a coastal apartment block called Waterway Condominium Association in Brandenton.

Image source, Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies

More than 2.5 million customers remain without power in Florida following Hurrican Milton, according to PowerOutage.us

The site has tracked more than 11.5 million customers and 33 electricity providers across the state.

It marks a decrease on yesterday, external, when the site said more than 3.3 million customers were without power.

Image source, Reuters

Insured losses from Hurricane Milton could range between $30bn and $50bn (£23bn to £38bn), credit agency Fitch Ratings estimates.

Its analysis of losses, published on Thursday, says it would be the largest insured loss since Hurricane Ian, external in 2022.

The estimate suggests that insurers will avoid a "worst-case scenario". Credit agencies were initially concerned that damages could cost the insurance sector $100bn, Reuters news agency reports, external.

Ultimate losses will depend in part on the level of demand for supplies needed to repair damaged properties, which historically can increase insured losses by 20% or more, according to Fitch.

AI-generated images and misleading videos of Hurricane Milton circulatepublished at 11:00 British Summer Time 11 October

11:00 BST 11 October

By Emma Pengelly, Shayan Sardarizadeh and Olga Robinson

False videos of Hurricane Milton have been accumulating millions of views this week.

Yesterday, three images , externalclaiming to show flooding at Disney World in Florida began circulating far and wide on social media.

But the photos are not real and have been generated using AI.

Image source, Social media

One of them,, external purporting to show flooding outside Cinderella’s Castle has been viewed more than 60,000 times on X. BBC Verify has seen foreign news websites reporting on the flooding as fact, despite the photos being fakes.

Another video viewed 241,000 times on X said to show the hurricane “destroying everything in its path” was created with CGI. It was posted by a YouTube channel which makes fictional tornado videos.

Image source, Social media

Misleading footage was also being shared prior to Hurricane Milton making landfall.

On Monday an account on X reported, external what it called “breaking news”, saying Hurricane Milton was expected to cause “severe damage” to Florida, and posted a video of a moody, dark and foreboding sky over a beach.

Image source, Social media

It was filmed in Florida, but it was not the prelude to Hurricane Milton. In fact, the video was first shared more than three years ago, in June 2021, by a local resident who had managed to capture the phenomenon of asperitas clouds on camera; a rare cloud formation that can look like rippling waves.

We’re hearing more about the rescue operations in Pinellas County, situated on the west central coast of Florida.

At one apartment complex, 430 residents were pulled from flooding that had reached the second floor balcony, according to the US news network CNN.

Ahead of the hurricane, more than a dozen coastal counties issued mandatory evacuation orders, including Pinellas County, which ordered more than 500,000 people to evacuate,

Officials in Florida are warning residents, external about home repair scams in the area, following Hurricane Milton and last month's Hurricane Helene.

Pinellas County Consumer Protection has told residents, external to be "cautious when hiring someone to make repairs" on their properties.

It says warning signs include “fly-by-night” contractors who take deposits and do little or no work, as well as "anyone soliciting work door-to-door".

It also advises people to "be wary of contractors who ask for advance payment in full".