Tropicana Field ripped apart by Hurricane Milton

Florida is digging out this morning after the arrival of Milton, the unimaginably powerful hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast around Sarasota last night. The power has gone out for millions; It will take days and weeks to count the dead and quantify the damage. But we already have the storm's defining image: Tropicana Field, home of the Rays, lost most of its roof in high winds overnight.

Here are some stunning drone shots from WXChasing:

The roof is made of fabric over polymer panels (think fancy fiberglass) and was built to withstand winds in excess of 110 mph, according to the Rays' media guide. The area experienced gusts of more than 100 miles per hour and the roof began to fail just before 11 p.m. local time. The Trop was intended as a base for first responders and disaster responders — not a shelter, as has been reported — but it is unclear how much damage was done to the interior of the stadium or to the metal frame of the roof.

This was a once-in-a-generation storm – which, ominously, is quite common in the age of human-caused climate change. St. Petersburg's three-hour rainfall total of 8.5 inches makes it a 1,000-year event (which is a measure of probability rather than time). A crane was thrown from the roof of a tower under construction, severely damaging the building's offices Tampa Bay Times. The wind was so strong that it temporarily blew the water away out of the bay, during a reverse storm surge:

Given the alternative, the Tampa Bay region appears to have gotten off relatively lightly. It is the storm surge that causes most hurricane deaths, and because the eye of Milton struck south of the bay, in Sarasota County, the cyclone's winds blew counterclockwise off the coast rather than bringing in the sea and the population flooding centers of Tampa and St. Pete.

Unfortunately, this means that the areas south of Sarasota where the storm made landfall bore the brunt of the storm surge. Communities like Fort Myers and Venice have fewer people and less media, so we haven't seen as much fallout yet, but they will almost certainly be where the most deaths occur.

If you or a loved one have been affected by this storm, this is the case Tampa Bay Times maintains a resource list.