Watch: St. Petersburg transformers explode in eerie blue flashing light as Hurricane Milton blasts Florida
St. Petersburg’s airport recorded about four hours of hurricane-force wind gusts, including several gusts over 90 mph and a peak gust of 101 mph. Over 1.25 million people lost power in the Tampa Bay Area.
Transformer explodes outside St. Petersburg apartment during Hurricane Milton
A transformer exploded outside an apartment building in St Petersburg, Florida, as Hurricane Milton made landfall near Sarasota. (Video: Sophia Idriss via Storyful)
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Transformer explosions lit up the skies in eerie shades of blue and orange as Hurricane Milton blasted Florida with over 100 mph wind gusts.
One of those explosions occurred just outside the window of Sophia Idriss’ St. Petersburg apartment.
"Oh my God!" she exclaimed as the transformer blew up in a shower of sparks and was quickly carried away by hurricane-force winds.
St. Petersburg’s airport recorded about four hours of hurricane-force wind gusts, including several gusts over 90 mph and a peak gust of 101 mph. Over 1.25 million people lost power in the Tampa Bay Area.
But power outages spread inland as Milton continued its trek across the heart of the Florida Peninsula. Gusts in Lakeland hit 76 mph, proving too much for the power grid.
Transformer explosions light up the skies over Lakeland during Hurricane Milton
Hurricane-force wind gusts triggered millions of power outages across Florida Wednesday as Milton roared onshore, including a 76 mph gust in Lakeland. (Video courtesy: Chelsea Torres)
Chelsea Torres spotted multiple blue flashes lighting up the horizon, mimicking an eerie thunderstorm, but in reality, they were more transformers exploding.
So far, more than 2.6 million electrical customers have lost power in Florida.