(Bloomberg) — Hurricane Milton roared ashore in Florida near Sarasota late on Wed., Oct. 9, knocking out power to more than 3 million customers and causing widespread flooding.

But officials were cautiously optimistic that damage won't reach the level wrought by Hurricane Ian in 2022.

Governor Ron DeSantis said Florida avoided a "worst-case scenario" even as emergency crews start assessing damages and dealing with widespread power outages. In addition to Milton's wrath, the hurricane spawned a rash of tornadoes across central Florida that killed at least four people. Between the hurricane impacts and the tornadoes, damages and losses may reach between $60 billion to $75 billion, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler with Enki Research. Ian, which struck near where Milton came ashore, killed at least 156 people and caused more than $112 billion in damage and losses in September 2022, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Milton is the fifth hurricane and second major storm to strike the U.S. Gulf Coast this year. Overall, the six-month Atlantic hurricane season has produced 13 named storms, one less than on average.

However, Hurricane Helene, which hit exactly two weeks ago, destroyed a large swath of the South and led to at least 230 deaths. The impact of that storm together with Milton is likely to tax federal emergency funds and flood insurance programs.

As of the morning of Thurs., Oct. 10, 3.4 million customers were without power across Florida, according to PowerOutage.us. In addition, 2,236 flights around the U.S. were canceled, most of them serving Orlando, Tampa, Palm Beach, Miami and Southwest Florida International, said FlightAware, an airline tracking service.

Hurricane winds swept through Florida's citrus groves, Commodity Weather Group said. Damage will need to be assessed across the state, which is the largest citrus grower in the U.S.

Forecasters had expected Milton to drive a huge storm surge into Florida's west coast that would have caused significant damage, especially if the hurricane hit further north and inundated Tampa Bay.

Initial reports indicate the surge in many areas was 5 to 8 feet (1.5 to 2.5 meters) above high-tide marks, lower than the 15 feet forecasters had feared. In addition, Milton, like Ian, hit the coast south of Tampa, so its winds actually blew water out of Tampa Bay for a time, lowering water levels there.

Milton then moved into the Atlantic and is set to transition into a post-tropical storm far from land, said Adam Douty, a meteorologist at commercial forecaster AccuWeather Inc. There's a chance that at its fringe, it may bring showers and blustery conditions to Bermuda.

Douty said his company is cautiously watching computer forecast models that suggest another storm may form in the western Caribbean next week.

Related: Helene photos: Storm now among costliest U.S. hurricanes