TAMPA, Fla. — Hurricane Milton crashed into Florida as a Category 3 storm Wednesday, pounding the coast with ferocious winds of over 100 mph (160 kph) and producing a series of tornadoes around the state. Tampa avoided a direct hit.

The cyclone had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (205 kph) as it roared ashore near Siesta Key, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. Siesta Key is a prosperous strip of white-sand beaches that’s home to 5,500 people about 70 miles (112 kilometres) south of Tampa. The Tampa Bay area has not taken a direct hit from a major hurricane in more than a century, but the storm was still bringing a potentially deadly storm surge to much of Florida’s Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas such as Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.