Thousands of Floridians are rebuilding their communities after Hurricane Milton made landfall as a deadly Category 3 storm this week and cut through the state, bringing destructive storm surge to parts of Florida’s western shore and deadly tornadoes to the east while killing at least 16 people.

The hardest-hit areas in Florida were on the state's Gulf Coast, where Milton made landfall. Hundreds of thousands of people remain without power as damage spread throughout southern Florida and the state's Atlantic Coast, as well, mainly from tornadoes.

Hurricane Milton strengthened as it churned through the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida on Tuesday and could wallop one of the state’s major population centers with huge storm surges, lashing rain and destructive winds just two weeks after deadly Hurricane Helene swamped the coastline.