Satellite image courtesy NOAA: Milton makes landfall.

Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday evening. According to the National Hurricane Center, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour when the eyewall crossed into the coast. The eye soon passed directly over Downtown Sarasota before starting a traverse across the state of Florida.

At the time of landfall, a weather station in Venice recorded maximum sustained winds of 78 mph and gusts as strong as 98 mph. At the Egmont Channel, another station recorded some gusts as strong as 100 mph, with sustained winds of 77 mph. At the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, sustained winds of 40 mph and gusts of 73 mph were recorded, while recordings at the Sunshine Skyway had gusts of 83 mph and sustained winds of 67 mph.

The Florida Public Service Commission as of 9 p.m. reported Sarasota has more customers without electricity than any county in the state. More than 160,000 Florida Power & Light customers had no service. In Manatee County, more than 127,000 FPL customers lost electricity, as did nearly 32,000 on the Peace River Electric Cooperative network.

Satellite image courtesy NOAA: Milton makes landfall.