After making landfall Wednesday night, Hurricane Milton battered the Tampa Bay area with high winds and heavy rains. A storm deployed weather sensor on the public beach at Anna Maria Island, near the mouth of Tampa Bay, reported 84-mph sustained winds, with a gust to 106 mph at 10 p.m. ET, said Tyler Fleming, a meteorologist with the weather service in Tampa Bay.
The destructive winds damaged the roof of St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field, the home stadium of MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays. Officials had transformed the baseball stadium into a base camp for emergency responders and set up rows of green cots.
Earlier this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that the stadium would serve as a 10,000-person base camp for debris cleanup operations and first responders. Footage from local television stations and photos shared on social media showed part of the stadium’s roof torn off amid high winds.
St. Petersburg Fire Rescue told ABC News that authorities were in contact with people inside the stadium and confirmed they were safe. WFTS-TV reported that there were no injuries.
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