Milton slammed into Florida's already storm-blasted coast Wednesday evening as a Category 3 hurricane threatening huge swaths of Tampa Bay, Sarasota and regions still reeling from the destruction of Helene.

Florida authorities began assessing the damage left by Hurricane Milton's passage across the state, after a night of high winds, torrential rain and storm surge.

After making landfall in Florida with a Category 3 status, Hurricane Milton had weakened to a Category 1 storm early Thursday morning. As of 4 a.m. Eastern Time, Milton had maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour and was "moving offshore" as it neared Cape Canaveral,