Hurricane Milton’s Impact on Travel Lingers as Florida Starts to Recover

Large swaths of Florida were recovering on Friday after Hurricane Milton swept through as a major storm with airports and theme parks starting to reopen.

Milton, which made landfall late Wednesday night as a deadly Category 3 hurricane in Siesta Key and since moved on into the Atlantic Ocean, left millions without power and flooded neighborhoods, The Associated Press reported. The fierce storm, which came on the heels of Hurricane Helene, even ripped the fabric roof off of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, where the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team plays.

Florida tourism site Visit Florida has also posted resources for travelers including updates from the state’s Emergency Response Team as well as openings and closures for national parks.

Airports, which had suspended operations ahead of Milton’s destruction, reopened on Friday. Tampa International Airport (TPA) waived off its first flight on Friday morning after a three day closure, but said “extreme wind gusts and heavy rainfall from the Category 3 storm impacted several areas of the airport campus that will need repairs.”

Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW), which closed Wednesday, also reopened Friday morning. And Orlando International Airport (MCO), which closed Wednesday morning, reopened to domestic arrivals on Thursday night and to both departures and international flights on Friday morning.

“The airport sustained minor damage from Hurricane Milton’s shaking winds and constant rain, including a few leaks and downed trees; however, the airport campus is structurally sound,” Orlando’s airport wrote in an update. “Crews will continue to prepare equipment and clear roadways to ensure the safety of the traveling public.”

Flight cancellations persisted into Friday morning with more than 530 flights canceled within, into, or out of the United States, according to flight tracker FlightAware. However, that pales in comparison to the more than 2,200 that were canceled on Thursday and the more than 1,900 that were canceled on Wednesday.

Several major airline flight waivers extended to the weekend or even into next week, including Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest, JetBlue, and Spirit Airlines. 

Major theme parks in Florida similarly reopened on Friday, including Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort.

“We’re grateful Walt Disney World Resort weathered the storm,” Disney wrote in a statement. “Our hearts are with our fellow Floridians who were impacted by this storm.”

Florida’s ports were working to recover on Friday as one of the largest destinations for cruises in the country. Both the Port of Jacksonville and Port Canaveral reopened land operations, but water operations at both ports remained closed. For its part, Port Tampa Bay said it was still assessing both its landside and seaside operations on Friday morning since “power continues to be an issue.”