Dozens of birds dropped dead out of the sky on to the deck of a cruise ship stuck out to sea bombarded
The made landfall on Wednesday night with winds of over 100mph and crossed across the state, causing at least 10 deaths and leaving millions without power. Damage was widespread and water levels may continue to rise for days, although the destruction is not as horrific as first feared.
One person, stuck out to sea aboard aunable to dock because of the high winds, shared a shocking video showing thousands of birds flying over the vessel. Sadly, many came crashing down to earth and were filmed dead on the ship.
The user said: “We are stuck on a cruise ship during Hurricane Milton when all of a sudden, late at night in the middle of the sea, thousands of birds and moths start flying frantically and then dropping out of the sky across all of the decks.
“The crew said they have never seen anything like this before and closed the decks. They don’t know where they are re-routing us to. Possibly Miami. We don’t know when we will be able to get back to Tampa for our vehicles."
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Some experts suggested the little birds were exhausted after flying in Milton’s heavy winds, eventually dropping dead on the vessel. As dawn broke on Thursday, storm surge warnings were still posted for much of the east-central Florida coast and north into Georgia.
Thankfully, the deadly storm surge feared for Tampa never materialised, though up to 18inches of rain fell in some areas. The worst storm surge appeared to be in Sarasota County, where it was 8ft to 10ft - lower than in the worst place during Helene. Governor Ron DeSantis said: “We will better understand the extent of the damage as the day progresse. We've got more to do, but we will absolutely get through this."
Officials in the hard-hit Florida counties of Hillsborough, Pinellas, Sarasota and Lee urged people to stay home, warning of downed power lines, trees in roads, blocked bridges and flooding. Sheriff Chad Chronister of Hillsborough County, home to Tampa, said: “We'll let you know when it's safe to come out.
In Plant City, emergency crews rescued 35 people overnight, according to city manager Bill McDaniel. He said: “We have flooding in places and to levels I've never seen, and I've lived in this community for my entire life."
