At least 10 people have been confirmed dead in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, said the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at a White House briefing on Thursday.

Rescue teams plucked Florida residents from the flotsam of Milton on Thursday after the storm smashed through coastal communities where it tore homes into pieces, filled streets with mud and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes.

Arriving just two weeks after the misery wrought by storm Helene, Milton also knocked out power to more than 3.4 million customers, flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off a baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane.

The storm tracked to the south in the final hours and made landfall late Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane in Siesta Key, about 112 kilometers south of Tampa. Damage was widespread, and water levels may continue to rise for days.

Five people were killed in tornadoes in the Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce, on Florida's Atlantic Coast, where homes were destroyed, authorities said. Police also found a woman dead under a fallen tree branch in Tampa.

About 80,000 people spent the night in shelters, and thousands of others fled after authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders across 15 Florida counties with a total population of about 7.2 million people.

(With input from AP)