LIVE UPDATES: Hurricane Milton Makes Landfall Over Florida

What to know about Hurricane Milton

1. Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, Wednesday night.
2. The storm is on track to rake across the Florida peninsula after landfall and head into the Atlantic Ocean.
3. Maps show Milton is expected to flood parts of Florida's Gulf Coast with storm surge as high as 9 to 13 feet.
4. More than 1.6 million customers were without power in Florida on Wednesday night, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us.
5. Follow live updates below.

Milton weakens to Category 2

Hurricane Milton had sustained winds of 110 mph as of 10 p.m. ET, making the storm a Category 2 hurricane — which is defined as a hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 96-110 mph.

Related: Travis Meyer Details Hurricane Milton As It Makes Landfall In Florida.

Milton had made landfall earlier in the evening as a Category 3 storm, considered a major hurricane, with 120 mph winds.

Milton makes landfall as Category 3 storm

Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday night near Siesta Key, Florida, the National Hurricane Center said. 

Milton had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph when it made landfall, making it a "dangerous Category 3 storm," the center said. 

Siesta Key is a barrier island located just south of Sarasota. 

Tampa seeing 3 to 5 inches of rain per hour

The Tampa metropolitan area was seeing between three and five inches of rain per hour, Jamie Rhome, deputy director of the National Hurricane Center, told CBS News Wednesday night after Hurricane Milton made landfall.

"To put that in context, because you might not be used to hearing those types of numbers, that's two and three times the normal rain rate, or speed, that rain would fall from just a traditional thunderstorm," Rhome explained. "And when rain falls that fast, that hard on an urban area, you almost get an instant flood, it has nowhere to go, you just get this instant flash flooding, and you're seeing that unfold all throughout the Tampa Bay area as we speak."

The National Hurricane Center said a flash flood emergency was in effect for the Tampa area at 10 p.m. ET. 

Rhome said that the "shield of heavy rain" would move northeast along the Interstate 4 corridor overnight, also hitting Lakeland and Orlando.

"It is absolutely unsafe to be out of your house and driving in those conditions," Rhome said.

Rhome expected the I-4 corridor to see "catastrophic flooding" as a result, and emphasized that Milton would remain a hurricane as it traverses the Florida peninsula.

"And you on the Florida east coast, if you think you're out of the woods, this is a Florida west coast problem, no, you're going to have hurricane-force winds all the way over on the Florida east coast," Rhome said. 

Injuries reported, homes damaged in Martin County, Florida

Several injuries, both serious and minor, have been reported in Martin County, Florida, as a result of Hurricane Milton. No fatalities had been reported as of Wednesday night, Martin County Fire Rescue said.

Martin County Fire Rescue also said it estimated dozens of homes had been damaged, "some severely," by the storm.

Martin County is located on Florida's east coast, north of Palm Beach.

Fort Myers neighborhood sees heavy damage from suspected tornado

A suspected tornado touched down in Fort Myers, Florida, on Wednesday ahead of Hurricane Milton's landfall later Wednesday night, one of several which were believed to have touched down statewide, CBS News correspondent Nicole Valdes reports.

A doorbell camera captured footage of the damage as it whipped through palm trees in the neighborhood and ripped off the roof of a home. The extent of the damage was still unknown. It was unclear if there were any injuries.  

More than 100 tornado warnings blared across the state earlier in the day. In the southeastern Florida county of St. Lucie, there were "multiple reports of tornadoes touching down," county spokesperson Erick Gill told CBS News by email Wednesday evening.

Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson feared the worst for those still in the city Wednesday night.

"I'm praying for their safety, and I hope they survive," Anderson told CBS News.

All the debris from both Hurricane Helene and the suspected tornadoes could put even inland communities at risk of even more damage as powerful winds from Milton are expected to continue well into Thursday.

FEMA chief says its Disaster Relief Fund depleted by Helene response

Federal Emergency Management Administrator Deanne Criswell indicated in a briefing Wednesday that the agency's Disaster Relief Fund could face a funding crisis. 

Criswell said the agency currently has about $9 billion in its coffers after it spent about $11 billion responding to Hurricane Helene.

"I'm going to have to evaluate how quickly we're burning the remaining dollars within the Disaster Relief Fund, to see if I'm going to have to go back in and ask for additional funding sooner than what Congress is planning on right now."

CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane reports that, according to congressional sources, FEMA could receive enough funding to respond to both Helene and Milton in the near term, but the agency may have to pull back on other long-term response efforts from previous emergencies in other parts of the country.

MacFarlane also reports that the Small Business Administration, which provides disaster loans to homeowners and small businesses, could also run out of money before Congress reconvenes after the November election.