ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Two people died in St. Petersburg after Hurricane Milton swept through the city, Police Chief Anthony Holloway said Thursday morning.
The chief made the announcement in a morning press conference with an update on conditions in St. Petersburg following Milton, which made landfall Wednesday evening as a Category 3 hurricane at Siesta Key.
Chief Holloway described one of the deaths as "medical," without further specifying what happened to the person, and the other as a person who was found dead in a park. The chief did not say which park and noted that officials are still waiting on a cause of death for that person from the medical examiner.
"Two people lost their loved ones," Chief Holloway said. "We did lose two people during this storm."
There was no immediate identifying information available about the victims.
The two deaths are in addition to four other confirmed deaths in Florida on Thursday, according to Associated Press reporting.
Originally a tropical storm on Saturday, Milton rapidly intensified in the following days. By early Monday, it had reached Category 2 strength, fluctuating between Category 4 and 5 before settling back to Category 3 as it approached land.
The storm brought deadly winds exceeding 100 mph (160 kph) to much of Florida’s Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas like Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, and Fort Myers.
In St. Petersburg, powerful winds from Hurricane Milton toppled a large construction crane late Wednesday night. The crane collapsed at the 400 Central Avenue construction site.
St. Petersburg recorded over 16 inches (41 centimeters) of rain, prompting the National Weather Service to issue warnings for flash flooding. Even before making landfall, tornadoes had touched down across Florida.