Hurricane Milton swept through central Florida on Thursday after making landfall on the state’s west coast earlier, spawning powerful tornadoes, damaging homes and cutting power to nearly 2 million homes and businesses in about 3 hours, according to PowerOutage.us.

Shortly after 1 a.m. local time, the hurricane was downgraded from a Category 2 to a Category 1, according to an update from the National Hurricane Center.

The storm is now about 40 miles south-southwest of Orlando and moving east-northeast at 64 km/h.

SSt Lucie County on the east coast of the state, they have confirmed deaths where officials said she was hit by tornadoes, although the total death toll is not yet clear. At least two deaths were reported in a community after a tornado hit Fort Pierce on Florida’s east coast, NBC News reported, citing St. Lucie, Keith Pearson.

Also, injuries have been confirmed in Martin County. The storm made landfall around 8:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum winds of 195 km/h near Siesta Key, the US National Hurricane Center said. By 11 PM, wind speeds had been reduced to 165 km/h, driving Milton into a hurricane category 2however it is still considered extremely dangerous. The eye of the storm is located 120 km southwest of Orlando in the center of the state.

Strong storms are hitting the Tampa Bay area, including the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, the hurricane center said, with St. Petersburg receiving 422 millimeters of rain on Wednesday.

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The eye of the storm made landfall on Siesta Key, a barrier island city of about 5,400 homes outside Sarasota, about 100 km south of the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, which is home to more than 3 million people.

Gov. Ron de Sandys said he hoped Tampa Bay, once considered the potential eye of the hurricane, could now avoid major damage and that the worst of the predicted storm surge could be avoided thanks to the hurricane’s landfall before cause a tide.

Ron de Sandys reported that Milton spawned at least 19 tornadoes that damaged several counties, destroying about 125 homes, most of them mobile homes.

Strong winds severely damaged the roof at MLB’s Tropicana Field. In particular, parts of the roof came off.

Where is the hurricane located?

The core of Hurricane Milton is located about 60 miles south-southwest of Orlando and will soon make its closest pass near the city, where it is expected to cause power problems in even more homes and businesses.

From 12:40 am as of Thursday, about 37,000 power customers are without power in Orange County, which includes Orlando, according to PowerOutage.us .

Orlando police and fire personnel have been pulled from the streets due to high winds in the area.

Florida has been bracing for the hurricane since the beginning of the week. Millions of people fled the state as dozens of flash flood, tornado and storm warnings went into effect. Once it passes Florida the hurricane should weaken over the western Atlantic, possibly dropping below hurricane intensity, but still a severe storm risk on the state’s Atlantic coast.