Milton’s tornadoes were part of an unusual trend this year: Hurricanes in the U.S. have produced an abnormally high number of strong twisters. The tornado outbreak that Hurricane Milton spawned in Florida was a leading cause of death and damage from the storm.

The destructive twisters surprised anxious Florida residents, even as Hurricane Milton’s eye still loomed. Hours before Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, a spate of unusually strong and long-lived tornadoes touched down across the state, flipping tractor-trailers and ripping off roofs.