Video reveals excessive winds from Hurricane Milton tore a gap the scale of a typical basketball court docket right into a east coast Florida airport’s roof late Wednesday.
The storm made landfall close to Siesta Key on state’s western coast as a Class 3 hurricane with 120 mph sustained winds, the Nationwide Hurricane Heart reported.
Earlier within the morning, as Milton traveled east, it left the Melbourne Orlando Worldwide Airport with a 30-by-40 foot gap within the roof, Greg Donovan, government director of the airport, instructed Florida As we speak, a part of the USA TODAY Community.
The airport is about 25 miles south of Cape Canaveral in Brevard County.
Watch Milton tear gap in roof at Melbourne Orlando Airport
Broken items fell in heart of terminal
A big a part of the airport’s ceiling got here down about 2 a.m., Donovan stated.
“We had a big part of our skylight, technically referred to as a caul wall, come down within the heart of the terminal,” Donovan stated. The excellent news, he stated, was that it “been actually dry since that preliminary wave so we’ve not had numerous water intrusion.”
The broken items fell into the middle of the terminal, which was closed to the general public on the time.
Watch:Video reveals mammoth 28-foot wave crash earlier than Milton slams Florida
Airport was closed when Milton blew gap in airport roof
The airport was closed on the time, and no accidents have been reported.
“We’re very grateful for our group and the way effectively they responded to this example,” Donovan stated. “It may have been quite a bit worse.”
Donovan stated he was mobilizing crews to patch the roof and restrict water harm.
Airport personnel had seen that the part of the roof was compromised and cordoned the world earlier than the harm.
Donovan estimated the price of repairs within the ‘excessive tens of 1000’s” of {dollars}.
“We want the circumstances to settle down just a little bit to get that repaired,” Donovan stated.
On Thursday, he stated the airport deliberate to open on Friday.
Hurricane Milton aftermath in Florida
As of Thursday afternoon, a minimum of seven individuals had died on account of Milton, which flooded neighborhoods and destroyed properties and companies throughout the state. Two deaths have been confirmed in St. Petersburg, one in Volusia County, and 4 extra have been confirmed in St. Lucie County on Florida’s east coast following tornadoes there.
Tens of millions additionally stay with out energy.
This text has been up to date so as to add new info.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Attain her at [email protected] and observe her on X @nataliealund.