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If you're just joining us now, here's a quick look at what's happened:

• The hurricane made landfall about four hours ago near Siesta Key, bringing with it 120mph (205km/h) winds and "life-threatening" storm surge and flooding
• The storm is still tracking across Florida but has since weakened to a category two - although it still remains extremely dangerous
• Several deaths - the exact number is unclear - have been confirmed at a leisure resort in St Lucie County on the state’s east coast
• More than 2m homes and businesses are without power across Florida, with locals describing whole neighbourhoods going dark
• Millions fled Florida throughout Wednesday before the storm hit and only two weeks after a category four Hurricane Helene made landfall in the state's north

Satellite footage shows the storm making landfall as a category three hurricane a few hours ago. It has since been downgraded to a category two hurricane.

Tom Bateman
Reporting from Orlando

Here in central Florida the winds continue to howl and groan, with a flash flood warning issued as Hurricane Milton rips through the state.

As it barrelled into the Gulf Coast, 120mph (193km/h) winds brought a seawater storm surge to communities where residents had earlier been told to evacuate to save their lives.

More than a million homes and businesses are now without power. By nightfall many neighbourhoods were desolate, as emergency services warned that it was too dangerous to answer calls for help until the storm passed.

The incoming hurricane also spawned many tornadoes throughout the day, including a huge twister which crossed a stretch of interstate highway known as Alligator Alley.

On the Atlantic coast police say there have been a number of deaths at a leisure resort after several tornadoes touched down in the space of 20 minutes. The St Lucie County sheriff described cars flipped over and moved hundreds of yards.

In anticipation of the recovery effort, state authorities have deployed nearly 10,000 National Guard members, with up to 20 million meal packs and 40 million litres of water ready to distribute.

US pop star Taylor Swift has been praised for donating $5m to Hurricane Helene and Milton relief efforts.

Describing her contribution as "generous", Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, who heads the non-profit organisation Feeding America, said it "will help communities rebuild and recover, providing essential food, clean water, and supplies to people affected by these devastating storms".

"Together, we can make a real impact in supporting families as they navigate the challenges ahead.

"Thank you, Taylor, for standing with us in the movement to end hunger and for helping communities in need," Babineaux-Fontenot added.

Image source, Getty Images

The number of blackouts continues to rapidly climb as winds knock over power lines and flood waters inundate communities.

The latest estimate from monitoring site Poweroutage.us is that over 2 million homes and businesses have lost power across Florida.

Some residents have posted videos online of their entire neighbourhood going dark.

As we just reported, Milton has been downgraded to a category two hurricane. Despite this, it is still extremely powerful, bringing heavy flooding and dangerous winds to the region.

Earlier, Milton made landfall near Siesta Key in Florida as a category three storm, and officials say it is expected to stay at hurricane strength as it continues to move over the state.

It's 23:15 on the US East coast and the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has just released a new advisory.

As of now, the hurricane is located around 75 miles (120km) south of the city of Orlando.

It is carrying wind speeds of 105mph (165km/h) and is moving at a relatively speedy 16mp/h.

Milton was downgraded to a category two hurricane about 90 minutes after making landfall, but still remains extremely dangerous.

Despite dropping in intensity, it is expected to remain at hurricane strength for the entire time it moves over land before dissipating over the Atlantic in the next few days.

"The intensity guidance and the relatively fast forward speed of Milton indicate that the system will maintain hurricane intensity while crossing Florida," according to the NHC bulletin.

Rain and lightning lashed the Florida coast as hurricane-force winds came ashore with Milton making landfall.

The scene was captured by several CCTV cameras.

The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning - the highest level of flood warning - for regions across Florida.

The Tampa Bay region, on Florida's west coast, has been under the advisory for hours, but other regions are also now impacted.

Orlando, in the centre of the state, and the coastal areas around the city of Daytona Beach on the east coast are also under flash flood warning.

Added together, there is now a belt of flash flood warnings across the entire middle part of Florida.

According to the NWS, a flash flood warning means a flash flood "is imminent or occurring" and people should "take action" to immediately move to higher ground.

"A flash flood is a sudden violent flood that can take from minutes to hours to develop. It is even possible to experience a flash flood in areas not immediately receiving rain."

The sheriff's office in St Lucie County, on Florida's east coast, has told to the BBC that there has been more than one death in the community.

"We had multiples tornadoes touch down in this community, and we have lost some life," St Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson says. He did not give details.

He says that officers are using bulldozers and other equipment in the Spanish Lakes neighbourhood to "recover anyone we can, provide any help that we can".

Speaking to WPBF-TV, the sheriff said, "It's devastating. No words can describe it."

The county commissioner added that the tornadoes appeared out of nowhere, ahead of the hurricane's full arrival. He noted that experts can predict where hurricanes will make landfall but can't predict where a tornado will strike.

"With a tornado, you don't know that. It's almost like having a bomb dropped at any place and any time."

He added that it was too late to evacuate.

"If you're home, stay at home. Don't make us come out here for you."

The headquarters for the sheriff's office was destroyed earlier today by a possible tornado, the sheriff said, but nobody was harmed.

Blackouts are increasing in Florida as the storm rolls across the state.

Over 1.1 million customers have lost electricity, according to monitoring site Poweroutage.us.

It comes as nearly 70,000 customers are also without power in North Carolina, a state still reeling from Hurricane Helene.

Image source, BBC / Jennie Flin

A little earlier, British woman Jennie Flin spoke to the BBC about Hurricane Milton - the second hurricane she's been caught up in during her honeymoon in Florida.

"We were evacuated out of Clearwater during Hurricane Helene and now we’re experiencing our second hurricane on our honeymoon," she said.

Jennie and her spouse arrived from Suffolk on 23 September, and within 24 hours were already focused on evacuating from Helene: "We were so busy with the wedding we weren't looking at the weather in Florida."

“I am disabled which makes evacuating quickly much harder for us, and if weather conditions are so extreme my mobility is not good enough to trek through debris and I may be trapped.”

Their flight home has also been cancelled, Jennie said: "Despite having travel insurance, we’ve had to pay a lot of money upfront to cover the costs of additional hotel nights and supplies for our room. We have been told we may be placed on a room-lockdown."

Gordon Corera
Reporting from Tampa

The rain is really beating down here and the wind is intense.

I can see palm trees swaying with the odd branch coming down.

Our team’s phones are also buzzing with regular emergency alerts warning of extreme winds and risks of floods in our area.

We are on higher ground so a storm surge reaching us is much less likely than in other areas.

The main worry in the hotel we're staying in seems to be that the power may go off at some point.

Most of the people staying here are locals from low-lying areas - they just want to get this over with and see what they are faced with tomorrow.

Image source, EPA

We've a bit more now from that latest National Hurricane Center update.

Milton is carrying winds of 120mph (205km/h), the agency says, adding that the storm's moving north-east at about 15mph as it crosses over Florida and heads out to the Atlantic over the coming hours.

Experts at the NHC say it's expected to slow down considerably as it works its way over, but in the meantime there are "life-threatening" storm surge, wind and flood warnings in place.

"A large area of destructive storm surge, with highest inundations of 10ft or greater, is expected," the NHC says, adding that this will also be accompanied by huge waves.

Hurricane Milton has officially made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

"Extremely dangerous category three Hurricane Milton makes landfall," the agency's update reads, warning of a "life-threatening storm surge" and "flash flooding occurring over the central Florida Peninsula".

Stay with us for more.

We've just been hearing from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was giving an update on the imminent arrival of Hurricane Milton in his state.

Here's what he said:

• Hurricane Milton is "in the process" of making landfall in Sarasota County, DeSantis told the briefing, with the US National Hurricane Center saying shortly afterwards that it was "close"
• Milton has weakened to a category three hurricane, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 120mph (193km/h), but is still life threatening - with DeSantis saying storm surges of up to 15ft high are possible
• He told residents "the storm is here", and warned people to stay indoors and "hunker down" - only leaving when an official has said it's safe to do so
• So far there have been no reported fatalities, DeSantis added, but there have been "some injuries"
• At least 125 homes have been destroyed and roughly 392,000 are without power, we were told, before a Florida Disaster Emergency Management official gave safety tips and told residents that even if things seemed quiet, they could still be in the eye of the storm and so to stay indoors

While taking questions from reporters, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is asked about a video from earlier today which reportedly shows a dog left chained to a fence amid bad weather conditions.

"What kind of an animal would just leave a dog chained to a pole in the middle of a hurricane?" DeSantis replies.

Florida Highway Patrol officials eventually rescued the dog, DeSantis says, but the governor says he's believes its owner should be identified and punished.

"That person should have the book thrown at them," DeSantis says, before going on to thank emergency service workers who he says worked around the clock in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and will do the same now.

Florida Disaster Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie speaks next.

He says around 125 homes have already been destroyed in Florida, "most of them mobile homes and senior communities".

Guthrie then proceeds to offer safety tips.

"If you hear trees snapping, there is going to be flying debris," he says. "You should treat it as a tornado... put heavy blankets and pillows on top of you."

Guthrie then cautions that even if things seem to calm down, "just understand that means you're in the eye" of the storm. He adds: "It's going to come back and get really nasty very soon."

Image source, Reuters

Continuing to speak, DeSantis says the point at which it was safe to evacuate Florida has passed.

"So you have to shelter in place and just hunker down," the Florida governor says - warning locals to stay inside and off the roads.

"This storm is here," he continues, repeating the instruction to "hunker down" until the storm has passed.