FLORIDA — Hurricane Milton has made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast, leaving more than 3 million without power and confirmed deaths in St. Lucie County by the coastline.

News10NBC has been in touch with several Rochester natives living in Florida, first about how they were preparing and now about the aftermath. The storm made landfall Wednesday night in Siesta Key near Sarasota, just south of Tampa.

Rochester-area native Joe Agostinelli stayed put in Clearwater during the hurricane. He prepared for the worst by blasting the A/C to cool off the apartment in case the power went out, charged up all his devices, and stocked up on bottled water.

Agostinelli told News10NBC on Thursday that it was a wild night and he lost power but he’s okay. He shared these photos with us:

Sharon Culian, a Greece native, told us that she planned to hunker down in a walk-in closet in her condo in Bradenton during the storm. She reached out on Thursday to say all is well except for a palm tree and a fence being down. Culian said she never lost power and shared this photo:

In total, 11 counties in Florida needed to evacuate because of Milton. Rochester-area native Barbara Pestorius described what it was like to board up her windows and evacuate across the state to her son’s place. Brandon Markson, a Pittsford native and Ph.D. student at the University of Florida in Gainesville, was able to book a flight out of the city earlier this week.

The storm caused some serious damage in the Tampa area overnight. Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg had its roof ripped off by high winds. The stadium was supposed to be the landing place for 10,000 out-of-town first responders.

A construction crane was also toppled by high winds in St. Petersburg. The crane was in use for a 515-foot-tall luxury high-rise building.

The City of St. Petersburg is asking people to avoid the area. We checked and the crane was inside the non-evacuation zone but people just two blocks away were told to get out of town. No injuries were reported for either the building hit by the crane or at the stadium.