Florida authorities began assessing the damage left by Hurricane Milton's passage across the state, after a night of high winds, torrential rain and storm surge.

After making landfall in Florida with a Category 3 status, Hurricane Milton had weakened to a Category 1 storm early Thursday morning. As of 4 a.m. Eastern Time, Milton had maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour and was "moving offshore" as it neared Cape Canaveral,

Milton slammed into Florida's already storm-blasted coast Wednesday evening as a Category 3 hurricane threatening huge swaths of Tampa Bay, Sarasota and regions still reeling from the destruction of Helene.