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Hurricane Milton’s powerful winds overnight Wednesday nearly ripped the entire roof off the Tampa Bay Rays’ home ballpark, Tropicana Field, which had been set for use by workers responding to the storm.
Overhead drone, television and still images of the domed stadium in St. Petersburg showed massive swaths of its paneled roof were torn off by 100-plus mph winds.
The stadium’s playing field and stands could be seen in that overheard footage, through where panels once were. It wasn’t immediately clear if the stadium’s interior suffered any major damage.
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The high winds also toppled a construction crane at 400 Central Ave., in St. Petersburg, about three-quarters of a mile from Tropicana Field, officials said.
There were no injuries immediately reported from that area of downtown St. Petersburg, according to a city statement.
As recently as noon on Tuesday, the Florida Division of Emergency Management said it was “establishing a 10,000-person base camp at Tropicana Field to support ongoing debris operations and post-landfall responders.”
The roof was designed to absorb winds of up to 110 mph, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said. And with forecasted gusts topping that standard, workers and equipment were removed from Tropicana Field, he added.
“As it became clear that there was going to be something of that magnitude that was going to be within the distance, they redeployed them out of Tropicana,” DeSantis told reporters on Thursday. “There were no state assets that were in Tropicana Field.”
The stadium opened in 1990 and is usually busy with playoff baseball games in most recent Octobers, but not this year.
The Rays finished 80-82 this past season, in their first campaign under .500 since 2017. Tampa Bay missed the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
The American League club said it’s in no hurry to determine the extent of damage to Tropicana Field.
“Our priority is supporting our community and our staff. We are fortunate and grateful that no one was hurt by the damage to our ballpark last night,” the team said in a statement Thursday afternoon.
“Over the coming days and weeks, we expect to be able to assess the true condition of Tropicana Field. In the meantime, we are working with law enforcement to secure the building.”
The Rays are scheduled to open the 2025 season at home against the Colorado Rockies on March 27.
John Filippelli contributed.
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