USA After hurricane "Milton": millions of people still without power

Following the passage of Hurricane Milton, several million people in the US state of Florida are still without power. On Friday night, around 2.6 million people were still affected by power outages, according to data from the US website PowerOutage. Meanwhile, the number of deaths in connection with "Milton" rose to at least 16 according to counts by US broadcaster CBS. Almost 1,000 people have been rescued by the emergency services in the storm area so far, CNN quoted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as saying.

As a category 3 hurricane, the storm made landfall near Siesta Key on the west coast of Florida late on Wednesday evening and cut a wide swath of devastation through the peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico before weakening and moving out into the Atlantic.

The US hurricane center pointed out the continuing dangers of fallen power lines and flooded areas in many places in central Florida. Accordingly, caution was advised when using electrical equipment for the clean-up work.