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Hurricane Milton: roof ripped off stadium used as base for emergency responders in Tampa Bay

The roof of the Tropicana Field stadium in St Petersburg was completely ripped off by Milton

Footage posted online from inside the stadium showed parts of the roof had been ripped apart by Hurricane Milton (Ryan Stryker / x.com/Stryker175)
Footage posted online from inside the stadium showed parts of the roof had been ripped apart by Hurricane Milton (Ryan Stryker / x.com/Stryker175)

The roof of a stadium that being used as a base for emergency responders in the Tampa Bay area was completely ripped off by Hurricane Milton as it tore its way through the area.

The Tropicana Field stadium had been transformed into a 10,000-person base camp by the Florida Division of Emergency Management to “support ongoing debris operations and post-landfall responders,” as announced by Governor Ron DeSantis earlier this week.

Home to the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team and located in St. Petersburg, the stadium’s roof was described as “the largest cable-supported domed roof in the world” and was designed to withstand wind speeds of up to 115mph.

More: Map showing flash flood risk in Florida over coming days as Hurricane Milton departs state’s eastern coast

However, when Hurricane Milton made landfall as a category 3 storm, it quickly started to rip off sections of the translucent fiberglass roof as it battered the area.

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Footage posted online from inside the stadium showed parts of the roof had been ripped apart by Hurricane Milton as the empty temporary beds on the field lie empty (Ryan Stryker / x.com/Stryker175)
Footage posted online from inside the stadium showed parts of the roof had been ripped apart by Hurricane Milton as the empty temporary beds on the field lie empty (Ryan Stryker / x.com/Stryker175)

As the storm continued into the night, the entirety of the fabric roofing had been ripped apart.

Despite the damage, local officials announced that there had been no injuries reported at the site.

According to CBS affiliate WTSP, among those based at the stadium were electrical linemen, however their area had been moved prior to the damage.

Hurricane Milton has caused extensive damage overnight as it made its way across central Florida.

‘Multiple deaths’ have already been reported as devastating tornadoes have spawned from the storm and around three million people have been left without power.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has warned that while the main portion of the storm has now passed through the state and departed on the eastern coast, there is a high risk of flash flooding in some areas over the coming days.