Photos: Four dead as Hurricane Milton plows across Florida

Hurricane Milton brought powerful winds, a storm surge and flooding to much of Florida after making landfall along the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm.

It weakened to a Category 1 storm as it moved through Florida early Thursday.

Power outages were widespread, and four deaths have been reported from severe weather.

The storm comes less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated communities across the Southeast, including Tampa, Fla., which was hit hard by Milton.

(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

Floodwaters inundate a neighborhood after Hurricane Milton came ashore in Punta Gorda, Fla.

A construction crane fell into an office building that houses the Tampa Bay Times.

(Bryan R. Smith / AFP / Getty Images)

Residents are rescued from their second-story apartment complex in Clearwater, Fla., that was flooded by an overflowing creek due to Hurricane Milton.

(Marta Lavandier / Associated Press)

Small boats rest on a pier in Fort Myers, Fla., after they were unmoored during Hurricane Milton.

(Marta Lavandier / Associated Press)

A Lee County sheriff’s officer patrols the streets of Cape Coral, Fla.

(Giorgio Viera / Getty Images)

(Julio Cortez / Associated Press)

Heavy traffic flows north on Interstate 75 as people evacuate Tampa Bay.

(Jen Golbeck / Associated Press)

A man carries his dog across the submerged Edward B. Knight Pier in Key West, Fla.

(Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press)

A boat damaged by Hurricane Helene rests against a bridge ahead of Milton in South Pasadena, Fla.

(Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press)

Ron Rook walks through wind and rain on a deserted street in downtown Tampa.