At the Warner Bayou Boat Ramp in Bradenton, the morning before Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall, waters rose high around 3 a.m. Rain poured down on the homeless and last-minute preppers heading to open gas stations in the dark hours of the morning.

Severe wind damage is apparent in Manatee County where neighbors there thought on Wednesday night, they would take the direct hit from Hurricane Milton as a

The county is under a flood watch issued by the National Weather Service until 8 p.m. Thursday. The Category 3 storm, which made landfall at Siesta Key just before 8:30 p.m. Wednesday with 120 mph winds, brought life-threatening storm surge, pounding winds and power outages to counties across the state.