Hurricane Milton battered Florida’s Gulf Coast Wednesday night with 120 mph winds and a punishing surge as it made landfall in Sarasota County at around 8:30 p.m. 

Milton touched down in Siesta Key, a barrier island off Sarasota, as a Category 3 hurricane, following earlier predictions suggesting it may land just south of Tampa Bay, an outcome that spared the low-lying metropolis the worst flooding.

Sarasota saw water levels rising to more than 8 feet and surges of up to 5 feet were recorded from Naples to Charlotte Harbor, according to the National Weather Service. 

The storm lost power as it hit land, downgrading from the Category 5 rating it reached as it traveled across the ocean with 180 mph winds. 

By 10 p.m., Milton dropped to a Category 2 storm, according to the NWS.

More than two million households across Florida lost power by midnight. Most of the outages were on the Gulf Coast near where the storm hit. 

However, the opposite coast wasn’t spared by Milton’s wrath as more than a dozen hurricane-spawned tornadoes struck St. Lucie County and killed several residents of a small retirement community there. 

The hurricane is expected to continue its path of destruction with “devastating rains and damaging winds” through the central Florida peninsula throughout Thursday before it exits into the Atlantic Ocean late in the day, the NWS reported. 

Key: MH — major hurricane; HU — hurricane; TS – tropical storm; STS — subtropical storm

You can track the path of Hurricane Milton live here.