Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Wednesday that Hurricane Milton is “now making landfall” in Sarasota County as a Category 3 hurricane and warned residents to “hunker down” until the storm passes. .
“The storm is here, and it's time for everyone to hunker down,” DeSantis said at a news conference Wednesday night.
“Right now, it's too dangerous to evacuate safely, so the only option is to shelter in place and just hunker down,” DeSantis added.
DeSantis said the storm made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 190 mph and was moving northeast at 17 mph.
National Hurricane Center (NHC) 8 p.m. breaking news The center of the storm is located 32 miles west-southwest of Sarasota and is moving east-northeast at 15 mph.
DeSantis said both Florida's east and west coasts should prepare for continued storm surge and heavy rain as the storm continues to move through central Florida overnight and into the early morning hours.
Peak storm surge is currently predicted to be between 5 feet and 13 feet, with some variation along the Florida Gulf Coast.
The governor noted that the storm had weakened over the past 24 hours and picked up speed before making landfall, which he said may have avoided storm surge and alleviated some of the storm surge.
DeSantis also warned of tornadoes that were already hitting Florida before making landfall.
He said there have been 116 tornado warnings in the state so far, with 19 confirmed touchdowns. DeSantis said there have been nine flash flood warnings and four more flood warnings so far, adding that residents should expect “more warnings to come.”
Updated at 8:33pm ET.
