On Wednesday night, Hurricane Milton’s strong winds nearly blew off the entire roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, which had been set up for use by storm response workers.
Drones, television and still images from above St. Petersburg’s domed stadium showed winds of more than 100 mph tearing off large areas of the paneled roof.
Overheard footage showed the stadium’s playing field and stands visible from where the panels once stood. It was not immediately clear whether the interior of the stadium sustained significant damage.
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High winds also toppled a construction crane at 400 Central Avenue in St. Petersburg, about three-quarters of a mile from Tropicana Field, officials said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries from that area of downtown St. Petersburg, the city said.
As of noon Tuesday, the Florida Department of Emergency Management said it had “established a 10,000-person base camp at Tropicana Field to support ongoing debris removal efforts and post-landfall responders.” did.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the roof is designed to absorb winds of up to 110 miles per hour. And workers and equipment were removed from Tropicana Field because wind gusts exceeding that threshold were expected, he added.
“They were relocated from the Tropicana because it became clear that something of that magnitude was going to happen far away,” DeSantis told reporters Thursday. “The national asset that was at Tropicana Field never existed.”
The stadium opened in 1990 and is usually busy with playoff baseball games in recent Octobers, but not this year.
Last season, the Rays finished the season with a record of 80 wins and 82 losses, hitting below .500 for the first time since 2017. Tampa Bay missed the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
The American League team said there was no need to rush to assess the damage to Tropicana Field.
“Our priority is to support our community and staff. We are fortunate and grateful that no one was injured in last night’s ballpark damage,” the team said in a statement Thursday afternoon.
“We expect to be able to assess the true condition of Tropicana Field over the coming days and weeks. In the meantime, we are working with law enforcement to ensure the building is secure. ”
The Rays are scheduled to open the 2025 season on March 27th at home against the Colorado Rockies.
Contributed by John Filippelli.
