ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. —
Late Wednesday night, Hurricane Milton wreaked havoc across the south of Florida. The destruction comes two weeks after hurricane Helene battered the Sunshine State.
Betsy Salter grew up in Virginia Beach and saw the damage from her downtown St. Petersburg home overnight.
“You see the wind and the rain and you're like, OK, this is bad. If I was outside, it would be a lot worse. right?"
St. Petersburg resident shows the damage from Milton
Salter lives a few blocks away from Tropicana Field. That's where hurricane winds ripped off most of the baseball stadium's roof. Salter says the surrounding area is also heavily damaged.
“There's so much construction going on downtown for housing and this huge crane fell off this building, damaging an office building in downtown.” Salter said.
Milton isn’t the first major hurricane she's experienced.
Being from Virginia Beach, she remembers Hurricane Isabelle, which ripped through Hampton Roads in 2003, and she said Hurricane Milton felt similar in its immediate impact.
With plenty of damage all around her, Salter said the next steps are going to be her community coming together to rebuild and repair the damage.
“It really is not just one person that can do so much, but it's every person that jumps in and gets together and uses their resources and their connections," Salter said. "That's when the magic happens."
Betsy Salter is the sister of an employee at 13News Now.