Tampa Bay hasn't been hit by a hurricane in over 100 years. And the upcoming Category 5 Hurricane Milton is expected to bring storm surges to low-lying cities that have never been recorded in the region.
The last time Tampa was hit by a storm was in October 1921, when the Tarpon Springs Hurricane came with 190 mph winds and an 11-foot storm surge, flooding the then-small city.
At least eight people were killed, mostly due to flooding, according to the National Weather Service, and waves crashed in the middle of downtown until the floodwaters receded.
Since then, Tampa has weathered its share of severe storms, but during that time the city hasn't felt the brunt of the storm.
The situation is expected to change this week, with Hurricane Milton, which is still “explosively” strengthening, making landfall around Wednesday, bringing with it a record storm surge of 12 feet. And experts worry the city isn't prepared for what's to come.
“It's a huge population. It's very at risk, it's very inexperienced, and it's a losing proposition,” said Kerry Emanuel, a professor of meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who said he was the last person to face a similar storm. He noted that Tampa has grown by leaps and bounds since the city was devastated in 1921.
“I always thought Tampa was the city to worry about the most,” he said, explaining that the Tampa area's low-lying, basin-like topography makes it especially susceptible to storm surge and flooding.
Hurricane Milton is currently heading toward Florida with winds of 175 miles per hour. The predicted 12-foot storm surge has never been predicted for this region before.
The severe storm is expected to lose some strength as it approaches land, reaching either Category 3 or Category 4 levels, Fox Weather meteorologists said.
But unlike most landfalls, where large tracts of land quickly dampen the storm's strength, Milton is now predicted to head straight across the Florida peninsula.
That means there isn't enough land to slow the storm down, and it's likely to force its way across the state as a full-blown hurricane, Fox Weather said.
Hurricane Milton was the result of Hurricane Helen, which crashed into Florida's Big Bend region as a Category 4, causing storm surge 6 meters high and devastating damage to the region and five other states in the southeastern United States. It is expected to make landfall within two weeks.
