Roberto Ramirez returned Thursday morning from his overnight shift in a local hospital to find water up to his knees in front of his Altamonte Springs home.
The scene has become all too familiar to Ramirez and other residents of Spring Oaks, a neighborhood west of Interstate 4 that floods during major storms.
”It brings back a lot of terrible memories from Ian,” Ramirez said, referring to the hurricane that swept through Central Florida two years ago.
But Spring Oaks’ familiar misery was not shared by many other neighborhoods in the Orlando area, which mostly weathered Hurricane Milton well despite dire earlier predictions. Milton tracked south of the most populated areas, and moved through the area much quicker than 2022’s Ian, leaving power outages and debris-filled roads but little destruction in its wake.
Elsewhere the situation was worse. Making landfall Wednesday evening south of Tampa Bay as a strong Category 3, Milton killed at least 11 people statewide, including four in Volusia County.
Milton also caused widespread damage on the Gulf Coast, ripping the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays’ Tropicana Stadium, and spawned tornadoes across Central and South Florida, particularly along the east coast.
The storm hit as the state was still recovering from Hurricane Helene, which struck just two weeks ago. Helene didn’t do a lot of damage in the Orlando area either, but caused horrific flooding in Florida’s Big Bend and dumped massive amounts of rain across the south, killing more than 200 people, becoming the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005.
Gov. Ron DeSantis compared the two storms during a press conference Thursday morning in Fort Pierce, noting that the storm surge produced by Milton didn’t match Helene’s.
“I mean, Helene was producing major surge all across the west coast of Florida, and then in the Big Bend, it was just biblical,” DeSantis said.
Still, Milton packed a punch in Central Florida, passing about 30 miles south of the city at 2 a.m. Peak gusts hit 87 miles per hour at Orlando International Airport and 79 miles per hour in Melbourne.
Rainfall amounts varied greatly across the region, with 2 to 4 inches reported in Osceola County, 6 to 11 inches in the Orlando area and 12 to 15 inches in Volusia County.
The storm exited Florida shortly after 4 a.m. Thursday as a Category 1 hurricane, passing just north of Cape Canaveral.
By Thursday afternoon, many Central Florida residents were still in the dark, including about half of utility customers in Lake County, 20% of those in Orange County, a third of Seminole County and a little more than 10% of Osceola, according to the website poweroutage.us, which collects data from utilities nationwide.
Mark Johnson and his friend’s son, Noah Klinger, 12, fish along a flooded portion of Edgewater Drive in College Park in between Lake Adair and Lake Concord in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton on Oct. 10, 2024. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
Roadways flooded in some parts of the region, including on College Park’s Edgewater Drive. Resident Paul White, who went for his typical morning walk on Thursday morning, said the flooding wasn’t as high as after Hurricane Ian two years ago, but deep enough that two teenagers with poles caught a fish while standing on the submerged double-yellow lines.
White’s home lost power as Milton struck, and an oak tree across the street crashed into his yard.
“I don’t think we did too bad,” he said. “All in all, my heart goes out to those on the coasts and in low lying areas that really got battered.”
A resident gets piggy-backed by a friend across flooded Seminole Blvd. in downtown Sanford, Thursday, October 10, 2024. Much of the road that fronts Lake Monroe flooded as a result of Hurricane Milton’s overnight impact in the area. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
Still, life began to return to normal quickly for many Central Florida residents on Thursday — with some inconveniences. In Orlando, city officials urged residents to refrain from washing laundry and dishes, taking showers and flushing toilets to prevent further straining water reclamation systems.
On Thursday, crews worked to remove 27 trees blocking roads throughout the city. More than 400 traffic signals were also not working after the storm. And officials reminded drivers to remove cars that parked in five downtown parking garages during the storm by noon Friday.
Orlando International Airport announced that arrivals would resume Thursday evening, and departures on Friday morning.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Curtis Edwards and his neighbors uses chainsaws to cut an oak tree blocking the road on Nellie Oaks Bend in Clermont that came down during the hurricane on Thursday, October 10, 2024. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
The major theme parks also were slated to reopen on Friday after closing on Thursday.
“We’re grateful Walt Disney World Resort weathered the storm, and we are currently assessing the impacts to our property to prepare for reopening the theme parks, Disney Springs and possibly other areas on Friday, October 11,” a statement on the theme park’s website read. “Our hearts are with our fellow Floridians who were impacted by this storm.”
In many ways, Orange County has been preparing for Hurricane Milton for several years, investing in flood mitigation projects in some of its most flood-prone areas. The investments paid dividends when Milton roared into Central Florida. When the storm left and the sun rose, county roads were littered with twigs and leaves shaken from trees but the Orlo Vista neighborhood, notoriously swamped in recent storms, suffered much less damage than during Ian.
The county spent about $23.2 million on a flood mitigation project in Orlo Vista that is nearly complete.
Reams Road, in Horizon West in west Orange, “was closed for almost a month after (Hurricane) Ian and it’s passable this morning,” said Commissioner Nicole Wilson, whose west Orange district includes the former trouble spot.
Wilson said she lobbied Public Works to pay special attention to flooding issues around Reams. Orange County and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District received emergency permission from the South Florida Water Management District to pump the wetlands on the north and south side of Reams Road into the tourism district’s system to the south.
Riverdale Road in Orlando is flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Roger Simmons/Orlando Sentinel)
While there was consensus that things could have been much worse, 600 properties were damaged in Orange County, Mayor Jerry Demings said in a Thursday afternoon press conference.
Damage was also less than anticipated in other parts of Central Florida that have flooded during previous storms.
In downtown Kissimmee’s business strip and the neighborhoods surrounding Kissimmee Lakefront Park, the extent of the damage was limited to debris and small puddles.
William Acevedo and his neighbor Edwin Carrion, were raking leaves off their yard and removing sandbags that lined their homes Thursday morning.
“We didn’t have any damage, especially compared to other years like Ian and Irma,” Carrion said. “During Ian we had the water come up almost into my garage.”
They live in Kissimmee’s Pebble Point, a neighborhood that flooded in 2022 during Hurricane Ian and had mandatory evacuations.
Carrion said he’s lived in there for over 13 years and has grown wary of hurricanes.
“I was a little bit scared,” he said. “But we knew everything was going to be alright because we have survived others, so we just had to take precautions.”
A resident wades through his flooded street on Weathersfield Ave. in the Springs Oaks subdivision in Altamonte Springs, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, following the overnight impact of Hurricane Milton. Sporadic flooding was reported across Central Florida as the storm’s rainfall overwhelmed area lakes and rivers. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
A crew works on power lines that were pulled down by a tree that fell in Winter Garden as Hurricane Milton crossed the state on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
In the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Curtis Edwards and his neighbors uses chainsaws to cut an oak tree blocking the road on Nellie Oaks Bend in Clermont that came down during the hurricane on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
A resident gets piggy-backed by a friend across flooded Seminole Boulevard in downtown Sanford, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Much of the road that fronts Lake Monroe flooded as a result of Hurricane Milton’s overnight impact in the area. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
Lake Cherokee in Downtown Orlando crested on the south side due to rain from Hurricane Milton on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Their were ankle deep water in parts of the street and city crews were out clearing the drains. (Ryan Gillespie/Orlando Sentinel)
Sand Lake Hills neighborhood in Orlando is flooded in the aftermath of hurricane Milton, on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/ Orlando Sentinel)
Riverdale Road in Orlando is flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Roger Simmons/Orlando Sentinel)
Power lines that were pulled down by a tree that fell in Winter Garden as Hurricane Milton crossed the state on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
An aerial view of Tropicana Field's shredded roof in downtown St. Petersburg, Fla., in the wake of Hurricane Milton early Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Max Chesnes/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Workers cut up a massive oak tree that toppled onto Dommerich Drive in Maitland, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, following the overnight impact of Hurricane Milton. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
A traffic light is down on Orange Avenue in Downtown Orlando in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Kevin Spear/Orlando Sentinel)
Sand Lake Hills neighborhood in Orlando is flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/ Orlando Sentinel)
A water rescue boat moves in flood waters at an apartment complex in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Clearwater, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
City of Sanford worker Ebony Pizarro secures caution tape on flooded Seminole Boulevard in downtown Sanford, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Much of the road that fronts Lake Monroe flooded as a result of Hurricane Milton’s overnight impact in the area. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
A construction crane fell over into an office building that houses the Tampa Bay Times headquarters, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Tampa Bay Times via AP)
A house lies toppled off its stilts after the passage of Hurricane Milton, in Bradenton Beach on Anna Maria Island, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Tornado damage is evident at the Publix at Avenir Town Center in Palm Beach Gardens on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
A man walks through the Binks Estate neighborhood in Wellington survey damage on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, after a tornado tore through overnight. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Father Matthew Hawkins works to remove a large oak branch that fell during Hurricane Milton at St. Paul Catholic Church in Leesburg on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
In the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Chuck Morgan clears debris from an oak tree blocking Nellie Oaks Bend in Clermont on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
Mark Johnson and his friend’s son, Noah Klinger, 12, fish along a flooded portion of Edgewater Drive in College Park in between Lake Adair and Lake Concord in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton on Oct. 10, 2024. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
Miguel Acevedo uses a leaf blower to remove debris off the roof of his Kissimmee home following Hurricane Milton's passage through the Central Florida region on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (Rich Pope, Orlando Sentinel)
Margot Jorgensen and Doug Dirk clean up debris from Hurricane Milton in the yard of their Kissimmee home, which sits across from East Lake Tohopekaliga, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (Rich Pope, Orlando Sentinel)
Cattle graze near a greenhouse damaged by Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Odessa, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
The roof of the Tropicana Field is damaged the morning after Hurricane Milton hit the region, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
The roof of Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays, appeared to be badly damaged as Hurricane Milton passes Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Vuk Mitic, 39 and Jordan Bayliss, 20 work together to tie a boat that broke free from the dock overnight as Hurricane Milton moved through the area on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024 in Ruskin, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
A downed tree lies across a road after the passage of Hurricane Milton, in downtown Tampa, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A tree, brought down by Hurricane Milton, blocks a part of E.E. Williamson Road in Longwood on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Cassie Armstrong/Orlando Sentinel)
Boats rest in a yard after they were washed ashore when Hurricane Milton passed through the area on Oct. 10, 2024, in Punta Gorda, Florida. The storm made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane in the Siesta Key area of Florida, causing damage and flooding throughout Central Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
A group is silhouetted against a fallen crane along 1st Avenue South near the Tampa Bay Times offices in St. Petersburg, Florida, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, as Hurricane Milton's strong winds tore through the area. (Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Boats at Marina Jack following Hurricane on Milton Oct. 10, 2024 in Sarasota, Florida. The storm made landfall at Siesta Key. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
The roof of Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays, appeared to be badly damaged as Hurricane Milton passes Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Edgewater Drive in College Park is flooded in between Lake Adair and Lake Concord in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton on Oct. 10, 2024. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
A stop sign askew on flooded Seminole Blvd. in downtown Sanford, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Much of the road that fronts Lake Monroe flooded as a result of Hurricane Milton’s overnight impact in the area. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
In this aerial view, Flood waters inundate a neighborhood after Hurricane Milton came ashore on Oct. 10, 2024, in Punta Gorda, Florida. The storm made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane in the Siesta Key area of Florida, causing damage and flooding throughout Central Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Women look at an uprooted tree the morning after Hurricane Milton hit the region, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Odessa, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
In the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Steve Coning, Curtis Edwards, and Chuck Morgan use chainsaws to cut an oak tree blocking the road on Nellie Oaks Bend in Clermont on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
Members of the media work in flooded streets after Hurricane Milton made landfall in the Sarasota area on Oct. 09, 2024, in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) *** BESTPIX ***
A resident checks out the flooded street on Springs Oaks Blvd. in Altamonte Springs, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, following the overnight impact of Hurricane Milton. Sporadic flooding was reported across Central Florida as the storm’s rainfall overwhelmed area lakes and rivers. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
Gulf Search and Rescue team members discuss plans at a police blockade near a bridge to Siesta Key in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton on Oct. 10, 2024 near Siesta Key, Florida. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
A woman walks along a flooded street in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton on Oct. 10, 2024 in Osprey, Florida. The hurricane made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane in the Siesta Key area. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
A man and child leave a rescue boat after high flood waters entered their apartment in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Clearwater, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A vehicle passes a traffic sign that fell down after Hurricane Milton near Davis Island neighborhood on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to speak from Fort Pierce on Hurricane Milton damage.
This photo provided by Orange County Fire Rescue Department shows OCFRD along with OCSO working on water rescues after Hurricane Milton early Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024 in Orange County, Fla. (Orange County Fire Rescue Department via AP)
A jeep drives through flooded Seminole Blvd. in downtown Sanford, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Much of the road that fronts Lake Monroe flooded as a result of Hurricane Milton’s overnight impact in the area. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
Authorities blocked off a portion of Broadway Avenue north of Concord Street due to a downed tree. (Tyler Williams/Orlando Sentinel)
Houses lie in ruins after sustaining tornado and flood damage from Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Matlacha, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
A downed tree on Hardwood Street between Broadway Ave. and Cathcart Ave. in Lake Eola Heights left the street impassable and residents without power. (Tyler Williams/Orlando Sentinel)
Multiple trees fell down on Livingston Street across from the Hilton Garden Inn. (Tyler Williams/Orlando Sentinel)
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A resident wades through his flooded street on Weathersfield Ave. in the Springs Oaks subdivision in Altamonte Springs, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, following the overnight impact of Hurricane Milton. Sporadic flooding was reported across Central Florida as the storm’s rainfall overwhelmed area lakes and rivers. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
In St. Cloud, Lucia Thomas, who was picking up debris around her East Lakeshore Boulevard home while her husband cleared the roof, said they considered fleeing south before deciding to ride it out at home.
“Outside of the strong winds and rain, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been,” Thomas said. Living mere yards from East Lake Toho, she remembered waters approaching her home following Ian.
Margot Jorgensen and Doug Dirk clean up debris from Hurricane Milton in the yard of their Kissimmee home, which sits across from East Lake Tohopekaliga, on Tuesday, October 8, 2024. (Rich Pope, Orlando Sentinel)
“Not this one,” she said.
Nearby, Doug and Marsha Dirks were helping Marsha’s sister, Margo Jorgensen, clear branches and brush that littered her yard after. Jorgensen lost power overnight but got it back early Thursday afternoon as the Dirks came from the nearby Remington community to help.
Doug Dirks compared Milton to Hurricane Charley, which he said claimed part of his roof when it hit Central Florida in 2004. Milton, he said, “wasn’t nearly as bad.”
“Mother Nature was just pruning my trees this time,” Dirks said.
Staff writers Ryan Gillespie, James Wilkins, Kevin Spear, Natalia Jaramillo, and Cristobal Rios contributed to this report.
