City and county guide to death, misery and destruction. Hurricane Milton power outage maps. Can't see the map? Click HERE. St. Petersburg weather w

Pinellas County officials have lifted mandatory evacuation orders and reopened the barrier islands after initial damage assessments from Hurricane Milton.

Perkins closed by saying the primary goal was to "prevent the loss of life" from Hurricane Milton but that the storm will bring "scary" conditions and warned the "window is closing" on the ability to evacuate before the storm makes landfall Thursday morning.