It's late in the evening in Florida, but the storm makes it impossible to sleep. Leif Oskarsson, originally from Stockholm, sits in his apartment on Clearwater Beach outside Tampa and waits for the power to go out.
Around a million people have no electricity right now, so we're lucky. But you just sit here and wait for it to pass, he says to TT over a shaky phone line.
He has lived in the USA for over 30 years but has never experienced anything like this.
I've gone through cold winters in Arvidsjaur with K4, storms and snowstorms in Stockholm, but I've never in my life seen such wind. And so much water, such pressure, and so much destruction, he says.
Roars like a troll
The apartment where he is staying with his wife and the family's Yorkshire terrier is constructed to withstand hurricanes up to category four. Milton was category three when it hit land and has since been downgraded to a two and then a one.
Leif Oskarsson describes it as if Clearwater Beach is right in the eye of the storm. The wind that roars past outside sounds like a roaring troll, combined with a screaming cat.
Let's say you're sitting on a motorcycle, driving 200 kilometers per hour and flipping up the visor. At that speed, you can't see or hear anything. It's blowing that much, he says.
"Trash and water everywhere"
When the initial shock had passed and Leif Oskarsson realized that the family and the apartment seemed to be okay, his thoughts turned to the next day, he says. How will it look when the day breaks?
Everything that needs to be cleaned up, all the companies that need to be fixed, has anyone been injured? There are trees everywhere, cables everywhere, trash and water everywhere, he says, adding:
It feels like a war.
