Strong winds from Hurricane Milton tore through the roof of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., home to the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball, on Wednesday night, video showed.

Pieces of the translucent, teflon-coated fiberglass roof were seen flapping in the wind. Within minutes, videos posted to social media showed the flaps growing in size until large sections of the roof were completely missing.

Earlier this week, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida announced Tropicana Field was being converted into a 10,000-person base camp “to support ongoing debris operations and post-landfall responders.”

Bill Johnson, 57, had a front-row seat to the destruction. The north side of Tropicana Field is clearly visible through the window of the St. Petersburg home that he was house-sitting.

At around 10:45 p.m., Mr. Johnson “heard a loud flapping sound and saw a portion of the roof coming apart.” At first, he just saw a few tears in the east and west side of the roof. But once one panel blew away, the rest followed and a massive swath of the roof was almost completely destroyed in less than half an hour, he said in a telephone interview early Thursday morning.

“It just makes me sad seeing the stadium of the team I love ruined,” said Mr. Johnson, a St. Petersburg resident and a lifelong Rays fan.

Tropicana Field’s roof is slanted “to reduce cooling costs and to better protect the stadium from hurricanes,” according to the field’s website.

In a social media post on Sunday, the Rays said that “Tropicana Field is NOT being used as a shelter,” and urged residents to remain updated about the storm through local officials.

Hurricane Milton made landfall near Sarasota on Wednesday. Large portions of Florida have seen significant flooding. Tornados have also wreaked havoc around the state, destroying homes and leading to some injuries and even death, according to at least one county official.

This is a developing story.