SARASOTA, United States (AFP)— Hurricane Milton tore a coast-to-coast path of destruction across the US state of Florida, whipping up a spate of deadly tornadoes that left at least four people dead and millions without power Thursday.

Milton made landfall Wednesday night on the Florida Gulf Coast as a major Category 3 storm.

Sustained hurricane-force winds smashed inland through communities still reeling from Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, before roaring off Florida’s east coast into the Atlantic.

“The wind was the scariest thing because the building sways and the windows rattle, even though they’re storm-proof windows,” said Sarasota resident Carrie Elizabeth, as she emerged to inspect the aftermath early Thursday.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the storm triggered deadly tornadoes and left more than three million people were without power.

In a statement on its website, St Lucie County on the east coast confirmed “four fatalities as a result of these tornadoes.”

Wind uprooted large trees and ripped apart the roof at the Tampa Bay Rays’ Tropicana Field baseball stadium in St Petersburg, and sent a construction crane falling onto a downtown building nearby.

In Clearwater on the west coast, emergency crews in rescue boats were out at first light, plucking stranded residents trapped in their homes by more than a metre of floodwater.

As the eye of the storm exited the peninsula, communities were still contending with strong winds, heavy rainfall, and the risk of flash floods.

Amid fear of tornadoes, St Lucie County sheriff Keith Pearson posted a video on his department’s Facebook page warning residents to seek shelter. It showed a garage for police cars that had been destroyed.

“The difficulty with the tornadoes is that we don’t know where they’re going to land,” St Lucie County commissioner Chris Dzadovsky told reporters.

President Joe Biden was briefed on the “initial impacts” of Milton, the White House said.

The series of hurricanes has quickly become an election campaign issue as Republican candidate Donald Trump spreads conspiracy theories claiming Biden and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris are abandoning victims.

That prompted a furious response from Biden who on Wednesday called Trump “reckless, irresponsible.”

By Thursday morning, Milton weakened to a Category 1 storm but was still registering powerful winds of up to 85 mph (140 kph) , according to the National Hurricane Center.