Hurricane Milton updates: 16 dead across Florida in storm's aftermath

Six deaths have been reported in hard-hit St. Lucie County due to Milton. One of the victims was Debra Kennedy, 66, who was killed after a tornado struck Spanish Lakes Country Club Village, a retirement community in Fort Pierce, her daughter Brandi Smith told ABC News.

Smith said that Kennedy, a mother of two and grandmother who went by Debbie, had moved from Cayuga County, New York, to Florida in March to care for Smith's ailing father, to whom Kennedy had previously been married for 42 years.

"I just want everybody to know what an amazing mother she has always been," Smith said. "She's always there for us two girls and all of her grandchildren absolutely adored her and she's been there for the birth of all of them."

Smith said she is working to raise funds to bring her mother back home to New York so she can bury her next to her father.

"She will be missed more than I can even say and I'm very sorry to everybody else who lost family during this," Smith said.

-ABC News' Christopher Looft

Standing near damaged mobile homes, Mike Johnson told ABC News' Eva Pilgrim Thursday that his house was spared after a tornado tore through Fort Pierce in St. Lucie County, though his neighbors weren't so lucky.

After he watched the tornado pass, he said he ran out and saw that the roof of his neighbor's home was torn off.

"It's like a bomb went off," he said. "Aluminum everywhere, belongings, vacuum cleaners, everything."

When he heard people screaming, he ran into the backside of the Spanish Lakes Country Club Village, where multiple fatalities were reported at the retirement complex.

He said he found one man deceased on the ground.

"My heart just dropped," he said. "It was gut-wrenching to see him like that."

Six people are dead in St. Lucie County after powerful tornadoes struck Florida's east coast, county officials said.

Twelve tornadoes were reported in the county within 90 minutes on Wednesday, prompting over 900 calls to 911, county officials said.

County Administrator George Landry praised the commitment of first responders, saying, "During the storm, our emergency personnel were literally dodging tornadoes to reach residents."

At least 38 tornadoes were reported across Florida on Wednesday. There were 126 tornado warnings issued in South Florida -- the most on record for the state and the second-highest for any state in one day.

-ABC News’ Jason Volack

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said damage to the Wellington area from a suspected tornado on Wednesday was extensive.

Bradshaw told reporters during a press briefing Thursday that he flew in a helicopter to survey the damage from the air.

"When you see the devastation from the air, it's amazing, it looks like a war zone," he said.

The sheriff said damage assessments of about 200 homes showed most were uninhabitable.

"I can tell you why: The places I saw looked like it was an atomic bomb that blew it up," Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw said crews are doing more searches with drones now.

Seven people were injured in the storm, officials said.

-ABC News' Matt Foster