Hurricane Milton sucked upwards of five feet of water from Tampa Bay, exposing rocks, sand and silt to the Florida air.

Hurricane Milton spared Florida the catastrophic devastation that many feared but left at least 11 people dead and around three million customers without power after it blazed a tornado-filled path across the state.

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.