The storm crashed into Florida yesterday, displacing millions of people
As the ‘storm of the century’ rages through Florida, an adrenaline junkie who decided to remain put at Walt Disney World has recorded the resort being battered by Hurricane Milton.
The beast, which at its peak strength recorded winds of 180mph, made landfall on the Sunshine State yesterday evening (October 9) as a category three storm – with winds up to 129mph.
It has since decreased to category one, but earlier this week it reached category five – with experts even questioning whether the Saffir-Simpson Wind scale needed to be developed to include further categories.
The National Weather Service reported that at least 27 tornadoes hit the state yesterday, with one in St. Lucie County resulting in multiple deaths after it struck a retirement community.
Speaking about the devastation in the area, Sheriff Keith Pearson told CNN: “We are not going to get into how many, but I can tell you it’s more than one person who has lost their life.”
It is the third hurricane to hit Florida this year, and has left more than three million people across the state without electricity.
Despite Disney announcing that the Disney World resort in Orlando would be closed on October 9 and 10, guests have still been able to take refuge in hotels on the resort – with one person capturing the footage from their hotel room.
The TikTok video shows the park being slammed by Hurricane Milton with its strong gales almost completely knocking over the many palm trees – which fortunately remained standing, or at least in the 15 second video.
@justthemeparks Hurricane Milton is here at Walt Disney World! We’re staying safe in our room at the Art of Animation & hope everyone else in Florida is safe too! We’d also like to say a huge thank you to all the cast members who are working through the hurricane and those who kept the Magic Kingdom open this morning! The small queue’s definitely helped distract us! ❤️😂 Trust us to time our vacation during a hurricane! 🌀 #hurricanemilton #wdw #waltdisneyworld #artofanimation #disneyparks #themeparks ♬ original sound – justthemeparks
Disney World told guests: “Please prepare to shelter indoors in your room or building beginning at 8:30 PM, as the storm is expected to intensify.
“The Walt Disney World theme parks, water parks, recreation offerings and Disney Springs are now closed through Thursday, October 10.”
Goldman Sachs analysts projected back on Tuesday that the likely closures and disruptions from Milton will reduce Disney’s earnings in the park division by between a whopping $150 million and $200 million this quarter.
Regardless of the danger to life, thousands of people in the state have decided to make the bold move of staying in their properties and there have been some incredible stories to come out of it – including that of Pedro Casares.
The Florida man unconventionally strapped down his home in Orlando in a bid to stop it from being destroyed.
But the force of the hurricane was well and truly proven by the Tampa Field stadium, which had it’s roof completely ripped off.
The full extent of Hurricane Milton’s damage will be revealed today once the sun comes up.
Elsewhere, people of social media have been left relieved to learn that viral star ‘Lieutenant Dan’ survived the hurricane, despite refusing to leave his boat.
