Hurricane Milton has ripped the roof off the Tropicana Field Stadium, home to the Tampa Bay Rays, dramatic pictures and footage show, the latest sign of damage from a storm that’s killed an estimated 11 people since making landfall.
Winds of over 100mph battered St. Petersburg, Florida, on Wednesday night as the baseball stadium’s roof, made of Teflon-coated fiberglass, was torn away.
Drone images show debris littered across the field, which was supposed to be a base for 10,000 responders supporting the clean-up effort after the storm passed. The cots and beds for the responders are visible in the pictures.
The stadium’s roof, supported by 180 miles of cables connected by struts, was built to withstand winds of up to 115 miles per hour, according to the team’s media guide.
Storm chaser and journalist Jonathan Petramala filmed the damage on a drone and told CNN the stadium “had no chance.”
“It’s surreal to see the roof shredded like that,” he said. “I was able to get my hands on a piece of that roof, it feels like thick vinyl. It had no chance against those winds of Hurricane Milton.”
No one was injured at the facility during the storm, according to the team.
“Our priority is supporting our community and our staff,” the Rays wrote in a statement on X on Thursday. “We are fortunate and grateful that no one was hurt by damage to our ballpark last night.”
The damage comes just as the Rays finished the season at the Tropicana Field last month. Games cannot be played there without a roof due to the field’s lack of drainage system, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
After much back and forth, a new $1.3 billion stadium for the team was scheduled to be built in St Petersburg but won’t be ready until 2028 at the earliest, according to Florida’s Business Observer. The team has been trying for almost 20 years to secure a deal for a “desperately needed” new ballpark in the Tampa Bay area, the outlet reported.
It’s unclear if the roof will be fixed by the time the team opens the 2025 season in March.
Milton made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday night near Sarasota County’s Siesta Key, bringing multiple tornadoes, 28ft waves, strong winds, heavy rainfall, and devastating storm surge.
Multiple deaths have already been confirmed after dozens of tornadoes spawned in St Lucie County, seeing a tornado strike Spanish Lakes Country Club retirement village in Fort Pierce, county Sheriff Keith Pearson said.
More than 3.2 million homes and businesses in Florida have been left powerless, with those in the west-central region the worst impacted.
After landfall, Milton has weakened to a Category 1 hurricane and is moving off Florida’s east coast – with residents still battling against brutal winds and storm surge.
The storm may be moving on, but the rescue and recovery effort is only beginning.
Since Milton made landfall, 106 individuals and 18 animals were rescued by the state’s Urban Search and Rescue Teams and the Florida National Guard, according to the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
The state has nearly 300 shelters open, supporting 80,000 residents displaced by the storm, according to the agency.
The state has partnered with Uber to give residents in evacuation zones free rides from shelters back to their homes.
Over 6,500 members of the Florida National Guard have been activated as part of the relief effort.
Hurricane Milton battered the state less than two weeks after the September 27 arrival of Hurricane Helene, which killed at least 20 people in Florida.
A political storm has accompanied the actual hurricanes, with Kamala Harris and Florida governor Ron DeSantis each accusing the other of politicizing disaster response by claiming the other is more focused on politics than cooperating.
Top Republicans including Donald Trump have latched onto false claims and conspiracy theories about the federal response to Helene, which local officials say is hampering relief efforts on the ground.
