Hurricane Milton destroyed the roof of the Tropicana Field stadium

Strong winds from Hurricane Milton tore through the roof of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., home of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays, on Wednesday night, video shows.

Pieces of the transparent, Teflon-coated fiberglass roof were seen fluttering in the air. Within minutes, videos posted on social media showed the flaps growing in size until large sections of the roof were missing entirely.

Earlier this week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that Tropicana Field was being converted into a 10,000-person base camp “to support ongoing debris operations and post-landfall responders.”

The roof at Tropicana Field was designed to withstand winds of up to 115 miles per hour, according to the Rays' media guide. Wind gusts were 101 mph in St. Petersburg at 10:30 p.m., according to forecasters.

At 10:45 a.m. Bill Johnson first heard the rumbling sound as pieces of the roof began to tear off.

The tears got worse and within 30 minutes whole panels started flying off the roof, he said in a telephone interview Thursday morning.

“It breaks my heart to see the stadium of the team I love destroyed,” said Mr. Johnson, a St. Petersburg resident and lifelong Rays fan.

In a social media post Sunday, the Rays said “Tropicana Field is not being used as a shelter,” and urged residents to stay updated on the storm through local officials.

Hurricane Milton made landfall near Sarasota on Wednesday. Significant flooding occurred in large parts of Florida. Tornadoes wreaked havoc around the state, destroying homes and leading to some injuries and even deaths, according to at least one county official.