A foolish Donald Trump fan risked his life by braving the hurricane winds and rushing on to a pier and tying up a flag in support of the ex-president’s 2024 bid for the White House.
Category 3 Hurricane Milton made landfall on Wednesday night with winds of over 100mph and crossed across the state, causing at least four deaths and leaving millions without power. Damage was widespread and water levels may continue to rise for days, although the destruction is not as horrific as first feared.
Despite the danger, one foolish man risked everything when he tied a flag to a pier in Naples, Florida, amid the howling wind and rain. Beneath him, the sea raged as the intense winds battled against the waves. The man attempts to secure it upon the pier’s structure and successfully manages to do so. As he walks off, the flag prevails against the harsh winds; though it’s unclear how long it lasted.
The wind and rain raged around the pier in Florida (
Jam Press Vid)
Hurricane Milton caused several tornadoes across the state and its 120mph winds toppled a crane , destroyed the iconic offices of a newspaper and ravaged a sports stadium. The huge hurricane tore through Florida overnight, making landfall with terrifying wind speeds and storm surges of up to 12 feet of water.
In the city of St Petersburg, the Tampa Bay Times said no-one was injured when the crane fell onto the building housing their office in St Petersburg amid high winds. The full extent of the damage across Florida will likely be revealed in the hours ahead as daylight returns to the “sunshine state”.
The flag, circled, was tied to the pier during the worst of the storm (
Jam Press Vid)
The huge storm made landfall in Siesta Key around 9.30pm local time (2.30am BST) after days of building in the Gulf of Mexico, before hitting towns and cities like Sarasota, St Petersburg, and Tampa Bay with devastating 120mph gusts and inches of rainfall every hour. Nearly three million homes and businesses have been left without power.
As dawn broke on Thursday, storm surge warnings were still posted for much of the east-central Florida coast and north into Georgia. Thankfully, the deadly storm surge feared for Tampa never materialised, though up to 18inches of rain fell in some areas. The worst storm surge appeared to be in Sarasota County, where it was 8ft to 10ft – lower than in the worst place during Helene.
Governor Ron DeSantis said: “We will better understand the extent of the damage as the day progresses. We’ve got more to do, but we will absolutely get through this.”