In Plant City, east of Tampa, city manager Bill McDaniel says first responders had to rescue 35 people from high water in the early hours of Thursday.

He says some streets are completely "impassable". He calls for residents to "refrain from coming out" and warns of "potentially toxic" flood waters.

"You don’t know what’s in that water. Our sewer stations are overwhelmed, you have gas, you have oil, you have other contaminates mixed into this water," he says in a Facebook update.

"It’s not healthy to get out in it so please refrain from coming out and getting into this flood water."

Image source, Getty Images

Helen Willets
BBC Weather

Hurricane Milton made landfall overnight near Siesta Key as a major category three hurricane.

Milton initially brought winds in excess of 100mph which downed power lines, structural damage and trees.

Over 18 inches of rain fell in St Petersburg and Tampa - that’s almost half a metre which is a one in a thousand year rainfall event for that area. Clearwater beach reported over 14 inches of rain.

As Milton moved east northeast across Florida its intensity lessened – this happens as it loses its heat and energy source over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, plus the friction as it interacts with the land.

However it maintained a category one strength - that’s sustained winds up to 90mph, right across Florida.

It’s a huge storm in area and most of the state have felt some impact from the storm. Indeed the rainfall extends into Georgia and South Carolina.

The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Milton is now "moving off the coast of east-central Florida".

In a post on X, external, it says the storm is "still producing damaging hurricane-force winds and heavy rains".

More than three million homes and businesses are now without power in Florida, according to the latest data.

Monitoring site poweroutage.us - which is updated every ten minutes - shows the worst-affected places along the west-central coast include Sarasota, Manatee, Pinellas, Charlotte and Lee.

Image source, poweroutage.us

As we have been reporting this morning, BBC Weather is reporting fahrenheit temperatures and wind speeds incorrectly.

This is also affecting cities and users outside the UK, as the screengrab above shows.

You can read more on the problems here.

On the eastern side of Florida, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue says five people were taken to hospital after multiple reports of "tornado touchdowns" in the area.

"Firefighters transported five patients, including three trauma patients, and treated many more walk-up patients with minor injuries," they say in a statement on Facebook.

"Our crews on the scene reported several damaged homes, vehicles picked up and moved, and debris all over the area."

It’s almost 04:45 in Florida and Hurricane Milton is continuing to tear through the state, bringing tornadoes, floods, and storm surges.

• Milton made landfall near Siesta Key at 20:30 EST on Wednesday (01:30 BST on Thursday) - although it has weakened to category one, it's still causing severe damage
• It will lash Florida as it cuts through the centre of the state and is expected to head into the Atlantic Ocean later in the day
• Fema officials tell the BBC that a significant storm surge is now forecast
• More than 2.6 million homes and businesses are without power - and people in St Petersburg have no drinking water
• Deaths have been confirmed in St Lucie on the Atlantic coast, but numbers are still unclear
• One police chief says that, once the weather eases, their job will be more recovery than rescue - “What we'll probably be finding in the morning are bodies”

Image source, REUTERS/Marco Bello

One Florida resident says Hurricane Milton is "probably the noisiest and the most powerful" storm he's seen during his 25 years there.

Phil Peachey, who lives in Orlando, tells BBC Breakfast the situation in the city is "really scary".

"I've never seen the trees bend so much," he says.

"When it gets light here I think the pictures of the damage will be horrific."

As our correspondent Tom Bateman reported earlier, it's too risky for emergency services in some parts of Florida to respond to calls.

In Sarasota, city spokesman Jamie Carson says the 911 switchboard received 1,400 calls in the past 12 hours - but first responders could not intervene because of the "high levels of storm surge" expected to hit.

"We have a medical director from the Sarasota County Fire Department that's working with those 911 team members taking those vital calls and triaging the calls and trying to provide assistance to the community members calling in," Carson tells the NPR station.

"They're also logging those calls. So as soon as those winds die down, as soon as our tactical first in teams go out there and they clear those arteries, those major roadways, our first responders are going to go out there and start responding to those calls."

Image source, Reuters

As we mentioned earlier, the BBC Weather website and app are still incorrectly reporting hurricane force winds in the UK.

Truro in Cornwall was displaying wind speeds of 16,309mph and they were said to be 15,227mph in Liverpool. Read more on the problems here.

The head of the US federal (i.e. national-level) response, Deanne Criswell, has just spoken to our colleagues on Radio 4's Today programme.

She says more than 70,000 Floridians are in government shelters after 31 counties issued evacuation orders ahead of the storm.

The hurricane has been downgraded to category one, but she warns a significant storm surge - rising water pushed onshore by the winds - is now forecast.

"The wind, even though it’s decreasing, the threats are not decreasing," she says.

"With the increased amount of rain, with the threat of flash flooding happening, you need to stay put. Don’t go out, try to make sure you’re as safe as possible."

It's almost 4am in Bradenton, Florida and the city's police chief has just spoken to our colleagues on Radio 4's Today programme.

Melanie Bevan says her department - which sits right on the Manatee River - spent the past three days evacuating the office.

Her team moved more than 45,000 pieces of property, evidence, guns and equipment to a safe location - "all in preparation for today," she says.

Bevan and other officers are currently in a new building - opposite the police department - that was built to withstand category five hurricanes and are watching the storm surge come into the river.

"It's several feet in now and we're still reeling from Hurricane Helene that just hit us last week," she says.

Bevan says there were "significant winds" in the first few hours "but this second half - boy, it's it is punching us hard and we're getting 110 mile gust. We see roofs flying, trees flying around. It's pretty ugly out there."

Asked about plans to rescue those who decided not to evacuate, Bevan replies: "I don't think it's going to be rescue once the storm subsides...it's going to be recovery.

"What we'll probably be finding in the morning are bodies...it's bleak in some of these areas."

She says officers told residents to write their name and next of kin on their arms with a black marker "so that we can get hold of somebody to come claim you".

Image source, Getty Images

From Sarasota, Brenda Griffiths describes the contrast from the hurricane arriving, to being in the eye of the storm.

She was in a hurricane-proof building which had 150mph (241 km) winds hitting it.

"I watched the glass [on the windows] moving, which it is supposed to do," she tells our colleagues on BBC World TV.

"We had about an hour of that, and then it went eerily quiet. We went out on the balcony and you couldn't see a leaf move. It was really spooky."

Image source, Getty

"A cement bench flew of the roof of a neighbouring hotel and crashed down next to me," says storm hunter and meteorologist Matthew Cappucci in Sarasota, Florida.

"Traffic lights were flying in the wind and pieces of people's roofs were flying past me," he tells our colleagues on 5 Live. "It is probably one of the most intense hurricanes I've ever seen."

He says that winds have been gusting to 99 miles per hour and that most of Sarasota is flooded in several feet of water, with some areas under several metres.

Cappucci has been staying at a hotel, but doesn't think he will be able to get home "because of all the trees that are down, there are wires down, signs down".

"I do think that cleaning up will take quite a while," he says.

Image source, Getty Images

While the US is experiencing high winds as a result of Hurricane Milton, BBC Weather users in the UK may see reports of high winds on this side of the Atlantic. These are incorrect.

There is currently a problem with BBC Weather data, with our teams working to fix the problem as soon as possible.

People in the Florida city of St Petersburg are without drinking water, after officials were forced to shut down the system due to hurricane damage.

Officials say the shutdown is expected to last "until the necessary repairs can be completed" and this can only be done when it is safe for crews to be outside, the statement says.

All residents have been advised to boil any water used for drinking, cooking and brushing teeth.

Image source, Reuters

Are you in Florida? If it's safe, you can share your story with us. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist.

Email: haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803

Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay

Parts of the dome-shaped roof of a 42,000-capacity baseball stadium in Florida have been torn off by Hurricane Milton.

As winds of 120mph (205km/h) hit St Petersburg, pieces of the Tropicana Field baseball stadium's non-retractable roof were ripped off.

The stadium was being used as a shelter for first responders but there were no reported injuries, according to local media.

The stadium is home to the Major League Baseball team, the Tampa Bay Rays.

More than 2.6 million homes and businesses are without power across Florida, according to the latest data.

There's also a knock-on effect on other states - about 70,000 customers are without power in North Carolina and 37,000 in Georgia.

Image source, poweroutage.us