Johnathan Walker:Far from landfall, Florida's inland counties and east coast still battered by Milton

Florida's west coast,Johnathan Walker where Hurricane Milton roared ashore Wednesday night, prepared for the worst and was spared some of the predicted catastrophic storm surge. But the storm tore through the rest of the state on its way to the Atlantic, driving winds that toppled trees and pushed heavy rains inland and toward the east coast.

In central and eastern Florida, Milton triggered tornadoes that officials believe killed several people. Milton's winds also toppled trees that killed people in their homes.

Milton's impacts stretched far from landfall, including damaged buildings, overturned cars and flooded neighborhoods. Winds over 100 mph were clocked in Mulberry, about 35 miles inland from Tampa. Just to the east, 94 mph winds battered Bartow. At the Melbourne Orlando International Airport, on the east coast, high winds tore a giant 30-by-40 foot hole through the roof.

Others inland fared better, but still dealt with power outages and some blocked roads. In Marion County, which includes Ocala about 100 miles northeast of Tampa Bay, officials said Thursday there were downed powerlines, trees and blown transformers, but no serious damage or injuries.

"A lot of prayers were answered," said Richard McKendrick, a resident in Lakeland, Florida, about 40 miles inland from Tampa Bay.

Prepared for the worst, relieved by Milton's minimal damage

In the Lakeland Highlands, McKendrick, a 58-year-old attorney, and his family were cleaning up debris around their property on Thursday. McKendrick, his wife, their 14-year-old son and a cat named Juno hunkered down overnight but didn't see much damage when they drove around the neighborhood Thursday morning, aside from some fallen tree branches and missing roof shingles. Their neighborhood is elevated, so didn't get flooding seen elsewhere.

"We were really, really blessed. This could've been a lot worse," McKendrick told USA TODAY.

The power went on and off throughout the night, McKendrick said, but he didn't need to use his generator. A 27-year resident of Lakeland, he said Milton wasn't as bad as some previous hurricanes, despite some strong wind gusts that hit around 1:30 a.m. He was prepared for the worst but said the scariest part of the hurricane was the unknown.

"When you're in the middle of it, you just deal with it," he said.

There were downed trees, damaged houses and flooded roads throughout Polk County, which includes Lakeland. One person died in a traffic accident related to the storm, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said. The Lakeland Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported airboat rescues were performed at the Melody Acres mobile home park.

Thousands without power, roads flooded, homes damaged in Florida’s inland counties

While the state's western coast bore the brunt of Hurricane Milton, the storm also left inland counties like Polk a soggy, wind-battered and dark mess.

The center of the storm worked its way through the heart of Polk County, which is in central Florida, around 11 p.m. Wednesday and sent wind gusts nearly 100 miles per hour whipping through the area, according to Paul Womble, the county’s emergency management director. The storm also dumped more than a foot of rain on the county, soaking historically flood-prone areas, Womble said.

“We've got a big, big section of our county that is basically underwater,” said Womble, who arrived at the emergency operations center at 5 a.m. Wednesday and hadn’t been home since. 

As the storm tore its way through, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said units couldn’t clear hazards, such as downed trees and power lines, until conditions calmed down.

Evacuation wasn’t mandatory, as it was in some places along the coast, but Womble said officials encouraged anyone living in mobile homes, RVs and areas that typically flood to seek shelter elsewhere. He said more than 6,500 people, including some from neighboring counties, rode out the storm in the county’s 20 emergency shelters, but they’ve already begun leaving rapidly Thursday. 

As officials began to assess the damage, nearly half of the area’s electric customers remained without power Thursday, according to a statewide power outage tracker from USA TODAY Network-Florida.

Womble said search-and-rescue operations are one of the primary focuses of recovery efforts Thursday, and officials are also working to restore power and cell service.

“Full recovery, especially from this type of impacts, could maybe take years,” he said.

Meanwhile in neighboring Hardee County, where emergency services were suspended for several hours overnight because hazardous wind speeds posed a threat to first responders, officials urged residents to stay home Thursday as crews began assessing road conditions and streetlights were out all over the county, according to emergency management officials. Nearly all of the county’s 9,640 electricity customers didnt' have power Thursday.

And in Lake County, flooding from Milton caused nearly 2 million gallons of sewage water to spill out of a wastewater treatment plant in Leesburg. Floodwaters caused a backup generator power to short out, leading to the spill. Roads have been washed out by flooding and blocked by trees and in some areas wind conditions are still too dangerous for crews to restore power to the more that 100,000 customers experiencing outages. Public schools will be closed the rest of the week.

In Belleview, outside of Ocala, Police Chief Terry Holland said Thursday that some roads in his city are blocked with fallen trees, and there is a tree on one home. Dunnellon Mayor Walter Green said power outages affected most city residents since Wednesday evening. A tree fell on a home and a woman was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Tornadoes on Florida's east coast devastate

A suspected tornado that blew through Cocoa Beach in Brevard County destroyed several homes and buildings. The roof blew off a Wells Fargo and a Supercuts was destroyed. Even the mayor's home was damaged. A hotel in Grant flooded and had to be evacuated. Streets from Satellite Beach to Rockledge were flooded.

In St. Lucie, Nancy Larson and her grandson drove Thursday morning to see how their area looked after the hurricane.

When she arrived at Lakewood Park Church in Fort Pierce, she started crying. The church she's been attending for more than a year, and where grandson was recently baptized, had been devastated.

The church is just down the road from Spanish Lakes Country Club Village, where four people were killed when a tornado, spun off by Hurricane Milton, touched down unexpectedly Wednesday.

A large section of the sanctuary roof was ripped off, windows were blown out, several large trees were uprooted and thrown around the property, including one that was lodged in the windshield of a Lexus that had been left in the parking lot.

"It's devastating," Larson told Treasure Coast Newspapers, part of the USA TODAY Network. "Devastating"

Contributing from the USA TODAY Network: Blake Fontenay, Adam L. Neal and Jon Santucci, Treasure Coast Newspapers; Jim Ross and Austin L. Mimller, the Ocala Star-Banner; Michelle Spitzer, Florida Today; the Lakeland Ledger; Julie Garisto, the Leesburg Daily Commercial