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Watch: Hurricane Milton's impact on Pinellas County
FOX 13's Regina Gonzalez shows us some of the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Milton in Pinellas County, including a large portion of Tropicana Field's roof getting torn off. It comes as access to the county is blocked as of Thursday morning.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Tropicana Field was not able to avoid the wrath of Hurricane Milton.
Video posted on Wednesday night showed portions of the stadium’s roof blowing in the wind. Drone footage later showed that most of the stadium's roof panels were indeed torn off during the storm, which brought wind gusts of 101 mph to the city.
Tropicana Field is home to the Tampa Bay Rays, and was set to serve as the home base for thousands of emergency responders who set up camp ahead of Hurricane Milton.
The city says nobody was injured when the roof ripped off the stadium. Officials are asking people to avoid the area.
A spokesperson for Tropicana Field confirmed in a statement to FOX 13 News that "no first responders were being staged at the Trop and the essential personnel that were there are all accounted for and safe."
A drone image shows the dome of Tropicana Field which has been torn open due to Hurricane Milton in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Oct. 10, 2024. (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)
FOX 13 also confirmed that 13 "essential" team personnel were inside Tropicana Field when the roof came off the building, and that due to the Rays having reservations over the structure's ability to withstand Hurricane Milton, the organization did not allow the field to be used to shelter people during the storm.
Hurricane Milton made landfall on Siesta Key Wednesday night as a Category 3 hurricane. Access to Pinellas County is currently restricted and millions of people across the Tampa Bay area are without power.
The dome of Tropicana Field, which has been torn open due to Hurricane Milton in St. Petersburg, Florida, on October 10, 2024. (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)
History of Tropicana Field
Tropicana Field opened in 1990 and was originally built to lure a Major League Baseball team to the city. But it was actually the Tampa Bay Lightning who first played there until an arena could be built in Tampa.
St. Petersburg was awarded an MLB expansion team in 1995 and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays began playing at the dome in 1998.
For the last several years, the Rays and the city of St. Pete have been negotiating for a new stadium, ultimately settling on a location right next to Tropicana Field. Construction on the new ballpark has not yet started; the most recent timeline was to have the new stadium completed by the 2028 season.
It was not immediately clear when repairs to Tropicana Field would start, or how long that could take. The team put out a statement Thursday saying their focus would be on securing the building first, and then assessing the structure's condition "in the coming days and weeks."
The Rays' season is over; their season ended last month with the team missing the playoffs for the first time in five years.
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