ISTANBUL 

The death toll from Hurricane Milton climbed to at least 17 on Friday, including five fatalities caused by tornadoes that hit St. Lucie County on Florida’s east coast, authorities said.

In St. Lucie County, a coastal region, five people lost their lives, with at least one of the deaths occurring at the Spanish Lakes Country Club Village, a retirement community for those aged 55 and older, according to county spokesman Erick Gill.

“I can’t confirm that all of them were from the Spanish Lakes neighborhood that was hardest hit,” Gill told NBC News. “I don’t know if it was all, but I know there was more than one.”

Nearly 48 hours after Milton made landfall, close to 2 million customers in Florida remained without power. At the peak of the storm, over 3 million customers experienced outages across the state, but recovery efforts are underway, and electricity is gradually being restored.

The worst-hit areas are concentrated along Florida’s west coast, where Milton first struck land. Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, and Sarasota counties have experienced significant damage. Florida Power & Light reported around 65,000 customers were still without power on Friday, although the utility has managed to restore electricity to approximately 1.3 million customers.

Full restoration remains a challenge, and some counties may not reach 95% restoration until nearly a week after the storm’s impact. Counties expected to achieve that benchmark by Thursday include Brevard, Charlotte, DeSoto, Flagler, Indian River, Manatee, Sarasota, Seminole, and Volusia.