Multiple powerful tornadoes ripped across Florida hours before Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday, tearing off roofs, overturning vehicles and sucking debris into the air as the black V-shaped columns moved through.

Deaths were reported in St. Lucie County on Floridas Atlantic Coast, but local authorities did not specify how many residents had been killed.

By Wednesday evening, more than 130 tornado warnings associated with Milton had been issued by National Weather Services offices in Florida.

The appearance of tornadoes before and during hurricanes isnt unusual, scientists say, but the twisters ferocity was.

Its definitely out of the ordinary, said Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini. Hurricanes do produce tornadoes, but theyre usually weak. What we saw today was much closer to what we see in the Great Plains in the spring.