Hurricane Milton is approaching Florida's west coast and is expected to make landfall as a Category 4 hurricane Wednesday night or early Thursday as a large-scale exodus continues. The extreme weather event comes as Floridians are still trying to recover from the devastation caused by the effects of Hurricane Helen 12 days ago.
AP report A hurricane warning was in effect for most of Florida's west coast early Tuesday as the storm and 155 mph winds crept toward the state at 9 mph, drawing energy from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
at 1am CDT Tuesday updateThe National Hurricane Center (NHC) located Milton just north of the Yucatan Peninsula and approximately 585 miles southwest of Tampa.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor warned residents that “we've never seen anything like this before” and residents were ordered to evacuate from the path of the storm. she warned:
Hurricane Helen sounded the alarm, and this is literally devastating. And I can tell you without any dramatization that if you choose to stay in the evacuation zone, you will die.
If you want to fight Mother Nature, she will win 100%.
Early Monday morning, UPI memo Wind speeds in Milton increased by 90 mph within 24 hours, reaching 180 mph. It is said to be the third fastest rapidly intensifying storm on record in the Atlantic Ocean. According to Over 40 years of National Hurricane Center data.
Thousands of people are evacuated and traffic is heavy in St. Petersburg, Florida, on October 7, 2024, ahead of Hurricane Milton, which hits the Gulf of Mexico. Milton is strengthening as it approaches the Florida Gulf Coast near St. Petersburg and Tampa and is expected to make landfall late Wednesday night. (Photo by Spencer Pratt/Getty Images)
The strongest Atlantic hurricane on record was Allen in 1980, with winds reaching 190 mph as it tore through the Caribbean and Gulf Coast and into Texas and Mexico.
“This makes Milton one of the strongest hurricanes on record in the Atlantic Basin and second in the Gulf region after Hurricane Rita (895 MB) in 2005,” said meteorologist Dylan Federico of KDFW-TV in Dallas. It became a strong hurricane,” he wrote. in a Facebook post.
Forecasters said the storm was moving eastward at about 9 miles per hour and was expected to pick up speed.
A sign is seen at the Pass-A-Grill Women's Club in St. Petersburg, Florida, on October 7, 2024, ahead of Hurricane Milton's expected landfall in the middle of this week. (BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)
“The center of Milton is expected to move just north of the Yucatan Peninsula today and approach the west coast of the Florida Peninsula by Wednesday,” the NHC said in a statement. “The hurricane is likely to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday night.”
A storm surge watch was in place for Florida's Gulf Coast, from Flamingo north to the Suwannee River, including Charlotte Harbor and Tampa Bay.
Forecasters predicted late Monday that waves 10 to 15 feet high were possible in Tampa Bay.
Tampa Bay hasn't been hit by a major hurricane since 1921, and officials fear luck is running out for the region and its 3.3 million residents.
