WATCH: Storm chaser shows eyewall of Hurricane Milton as it battered Venice, Florida

VENICE, Fla. - Extreme meteorologist and storm chaser Reed Timmer showed what the eyewall of Hurricane Milton looked like as it pounded Venice, Florida on Wednesday night.

Timmer, known for embedding himself into some of the most severe weather storms, was standing on Venice Beach around 7 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, just over an hour before the Category 3 Hurricane made landfall just to the north of Venice in Siesta Key, Florida.

In the video, you can hear the extreme winds that battered the coastal community at over 100 miles per hour. The wind lashes the beach, picking up sand and throwing it into the air in wind gusts, creating a swirling wall of grains that blurs the horizon. 

Hurricane Milton brought an extreme level of destruction to Florida's Gulf Coast, which was ravaged by Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago. Tampa was spared a direct hit from Milton as the storm tracked to the south in the final hours before making landfall about 70 miles south of Tampa in neighboring Sarasota County.

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More than 2 million homes and businesses were without power in Florida, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports. The highest number of outages were in Hardee County, as well as neighboring Sarasota and Manatee counties. Sarasota County Government on Thursday said that access to barrier islands, including Casey Key, Manasota Key, Siesta Key, Longboat Key, remain closed as post-storm search and rescue missions are completed.

Siesta Key, where the storm made landfall, appears to have gotten the worst storm surge at 8 to 10 feet. 

Before Milton even made landfall, several tornadoes touched down across the state. About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane came ashore, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens, said Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

Government officials urged residents in the areas to remain indoors, as hidden dangers such as downed power lines near flooded waters can be deadly. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was reported from Los Angeles.