Anna Maria Island took a major impact from Hurricane Milton's winds, but the storm surge did not reach the same levels produced by Hurricane Helene about a couple of weeks ago. City of Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth said she hopes residents who were ...

Hurricane Milton, which made landfall as a Category 3 storm with 120 mph winds off Sarasota, wiped out the Rod and Reel Pier, a seafood restaurant that opened in 1947 on the island’s northern end, according to social media posts from officials.

Hurricane Milton strengthened as it churned through the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida on Tuesday and could wallop one of the state’s major population centers with huge storm surges, lashing rain and destructive winds just two weeks after deadly Hurricane Helene swamped the coastline.