Homeowners in Central Florida are still struggling to get insurance payouts and rebuild their lives months after Hurricane Milton made landfall in October 2024.

Some areas along Florida's Gulf Coast are still rebuilding after being slammed by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which hit the Sunshine State back-to-back during the 2024 hurricane season.

The Lakeland Police Department Dive Team was recently certified in the areas of water rescue, highwater rescue, and swift water rescue.

The 2024 hurricane season brought Florida face-to-face with some of the strongest storms in recent memory, tying the record set in 2004 with three landfalling hurricanes: Debby, Helene and Milton.

Just 13 days later, Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 hurricane. It struck near Siesta Key Oct. 9, 2024. The storm was accompanied by sustained winds of 120 mph.

As of 7 p.m. ET Wednesday, there were more than 293,000 customers without power across Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton's expected landfall, according to poweroutage.us.

Juan Jose Muñoz (left) and Elvin Antonio Urbina walk with her belongings through the flooded N 15th St in North Tampa, Thursday, October 10, 2024, a day after Hurricane Milton crossed Florida’s ...

Locally, the storm that brought the most widespread impacts to Central Florida was Hurricane Milton. Milton brought winds of 87 mph to Orlando, and rainfall of 16.5 inches to Ormond Beach, with ...

Then, just days later, the next threat emerged: Hurricane Milton. It started with a tropical depression on Oct. 5, then a hurricane on Oct. 6, rapidly intensifying to category 5 on Oct. 7.

A view of some of the homes on Manasota Key damaged by Hurricane Milton in 2024. Al Diaz / Miami Herald Staff [email protected] Every hurricane season in Florida comes with uncertainty but ...