UPDATE | Oct. 9, 2024, 10:42 PM CST |
Tamps, Fla. — Hurricane Milton crashed into Florida as a Category 3 storm Wednesday, pounding the coast with ferocious winds of over 100 mph, heavy rain and producing a series of tornadoes around the state. Tampa avoided a direct hit.
The cyclone had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph as it made landfall at 8:30 p.m. near Siesta Key, the National Hurricane Center said. Siesta Key is a prosperous strip of white-sand beaches home to 5,500 people about 70 miles south of Tampa.
More than 1.5 million homes and businesses were without power Wednesday night in Florida, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports. The highest number of outages were in Hardee County, as well as neighboring Sarasota and Manatee counties.
The Tampa Bay area has not taken a direct hit from a major hurricane in more than a century, but the storm was still bringing a potentially deadly storm surge to much of Florida’s Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas such as Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
The National Weather Service said flash flooding was occurring in the Tampa Bay area, including St. Petersburg, where over 16 inches of rain had fallen.
Heavy rains were also likely to cause flooding inland along rivers and lakes as Milton traverses the Florida Peninsula as a hurricane, eventually to emerge in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday.
About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane even made landfall, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens, said Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
Multiple tornadoes spawned by the hurricane tore across Florida, the twisters acting as a dangerous harbingers of Milton’s approach. Videos posted to social media sites showed large funnel clouds over neighborhoods in Palm Beach County and elsewhere in the state.
About 90 minutes after making landfall, Milton was centered about 20 miles northeast of Sarasota and had weakened slightly with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, becoming a Category 2 storm, the hurricane center reported. It was moving east-northeast at 16 mph.
Milton slammed into a Florida region still reeling from Hurricane Helene, which caused heavy damage to beach communities with storm surge and killed a dozen people in seaside Pinellas County alone.
Earlier, officials issued dire warnings to flee or face grim odds of survival.
“This is it, folks,” said Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, which sits on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay. “Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.”
By late afternoon, some officials said the time had passed for such efforts, suggesting that people who stayed behind hunker down instead. By the evening, some counties announced they had suspended emergency services.
Milton was expected to remain a hurricane as it plowed across the state, including the heavily populated Orlando area, through Thursday.
UPDATE | Oct. 9, 2024,8:13 PM CST |
Tampa, Fla. — Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday along Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm, bringing powerful winds, deadly storm surge and potential flooding to much of the state. Milton drew fuel from exceedingly warm Gulf of Mexico waters, twice reaching Category 5 status.
The cyclone had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph when it roared ashore in Siesta Key, Florida, at 8:30 p.m., the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. The storm was bringing deadly storm surge to much of Florida’s Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas such as Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
Siesta Key, Fla. — Siesta Key, a barrier island off Sarasota, is a prosperous strip of powdery, white sand beaches and picturesque sunsets, celebrated with a drum circle on Sundays.
Florida International University professor Stephen Leatherman, a.k.a. “Dr. Beach,” named Siesta Beach the United States’ best beach in 2017, and MTV’s “Siesta Key” gave audiences a reality-show view of the place in recent years.
Many of Siesta Key’s about 5,500 residents are of retirement age.
Power outages continued to spread across Florida Wednesday night as Hurricane Milton ripped through the state.
More than 800,000 customers were without power shortly after 9 p.m. according to PowerOutages.us. Many of the outages were focused along the peninsula’s western coast and in a pathway through the center of the state, where multiple tornadoes had formed in the hurricane’s rain band.
Nearly 700,000 customers were without power in Florida early Wednesday night as hurricane Milton pummeled the state, according to PowerOutage.us.
Tampa Electric, Florida Power & Light Company and Duke Energy were reporting some of the largest outages as the hurricane made landfall about 68 miles south of Tampa.
Some power lines were taken down earlier in the day by tornadoes that formed in the rain band of the hurricane.
Many Florida energy companies warned customers in advance to prepare for outages caused by the storm. Duke Energy Florida said in a statement earlier Wednesday that it was staging resources along the outside of the hurricane’s projected path to respond to outages as soon as weather and other conditions allow.
There are more than 11.5 million power customers in Florida, according to PowerOutage.us.
Miami — Hurricane Milton made landfall in Siesta Key, Florida, on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said. It is a barrier island off Sarasota with white-sand beaches and has about 5,500 residents.
The community is about 70 miles south of Tampa. While the city did not take a direct hit, Hurricane Milton was still producing deadly storm surge and powerful winds in the area.
UPDATE | Oct. 9, 2024, 7:04 PM CST |
Tampa, Fla. — Hurricane Milton hurled rain, tornadoes and tropical storm-force winds at the U.S. coast Wednesday as time began to run out for residents to evacuate from the potentially catastrophic path the storm was carving toward Florida.
The National Hurricane Center stressed that it was not certain where Milton’s center would come ashore Wednesday night because the storm's path might “wobble,” but the entire Tampa Bay region and points south were at grave risk. Tropical storm-force winds began lashing the coast Wednesday afternoon.
Earlier, officials issued dire warnings to flee or face grim odds of survival.
“This is it, folks,” said Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, which sits on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay. “Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.”
By late afternoon, some officials said the time had passed for such efforts.
“Unless you really have a good reason to leave at this point, we suggest you just hunker down,” Polk County Emergency Management Director Paul Womble said in a public update.
Likewise, Pasco County officials told residents it was “time to ride out the storm where you are” and to expect that emergency workers would not be able to respond to calls for several hours during the storm.
Milton, which has fluctuated in intensity as it approaches Florida, was a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday afternoon. It was expected to remain a hurricane after hitting land and plowing across the state, including the heavily populated Orlando area, through Thursday.
Tampa Bay, near the top of a long stretch of coastline that could be in the bull's-eye, has not taken a direct hit from a major hurricane in more than a century.
“That doesn't mean that it couldn't happen,” said Luisa Meshekoff, who nevertheless was staying put with her partner and eight cats in their home, a brick warehouse in a mandatory evacuation zone in Tampa's Channel District. The couple considered leaving but felt bringing the cats to a shelter wasn't an option, and they worried that getting stuck on the roads could be dangerous.
“I think if you have water and batteries, everything’s OK,” Meshekoff said. “I could be singing a different tune by 2 in the morning.”
Milton threatened communities still reeling two weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded streets and homes in western Florida and left at least 230 people dead across the South. In many places along the coast, municipalities raced to collect and dispose of debris before Milton’s winds and storm surge could toss it around and compound any damage.
With the storm weaker but growing in size, the surge was projected to reach as high as 12 feet in Tampa Bay and up to 13 feet farther south, between Sarasota and Fort Myers.
Jackie Curnick said she wrestled with her decision to stay and hunker down at home in Sarasota. But with a 2-year-old son and a baby girl due Oct. 29, Curnick and her husband thought it was for the best.
Curnick said they started packing Monday to evacuate, but they couldn’t find any available hotel rooms, and the few they came by were too expensive.
She said there were too many unanswered questions if they got in the car and left: Where to sleep, if they’d be able to fill up their gas tank, and if they could even find a safe route out of the state.
“The thing is it’s so difficult to evacuate in a peninsula,” she said. “In most other states, you can go in any direction to get out. In Florida there are only so many roads that take you north or south.
The famous Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which spans the mouth of Tampa Bay, closed around midday. Other major bridges also closed.
“Yesterday I said the clock was ticking. Today I’m saying the alarm bell is really going off. People need to get to their safe place," said Ken Graham, director of the National Weather Service.
At a news conference in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis described deployment of a wide range of resources, including 9,000 National Guard members from Florida and other states; over 50,000 utility workers from as far as California; and highway patrol cars with sirens to escort gasoline tankers to replenish supplies so people could fill up their tanks before evacuating.
“Unfortunately, there will be fatalities. I don’t think there’s any way around that,” DeSantis said.
As of Wednesday evening, Milton was centered about 35 miles west-southwest of Sarasota and had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph , the hurricane center reported. It was moving northeast at 15 mph (28 kph), slowing slightly from earlier in the day.
Heavy rain and tornadoes lashed parts of southern Florida starting Wednesday morning, with conditions deteriorating throughout the day. Six to 12 inches of rain, with up to 18 inches in some places, was expected well inland, bringing the risk of catastrophic flooding.
One twister touched down Wednesday morning in the lightly populated Everglades and crossed Interstate 75. Another apparent tornado touched down in Fort Myers, snapping tree limbs and tearing a gas station's canopy to shreds.
Authorities have issued mandatory evacuation orders across 15 Florida counties with a total population of about 7.2 million people. Officials warned that anyone staying behind must fend for themselves, because first responders were not expected to risk their lives attempting rescues at the height of the storm.
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch told residents to expect long power outages and the possible shutdown of the sewer system.
In Charlotte Harbor, about 100 miles south of Tampa, clouds swirled and winds gusted as Josh Parks packed his Kia sedan with clothes and other belongings. Two weeks ago, Helene’s surge brought about 5 feet of water to the neighborhood, and its streets remain filled with waterlogged furniture, torn-out drywall and other debris.
Parks, an auto technician, planned to flee to his daughter’s home inland and said his roommate already left.
“I told her to pack like you aren’t coming back,” he said.
By early afternoon, airlines had canceled about 1,900 flights. SeaWorld was closed all day Wednesday, and Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando shut down in the afternoon.
More than 60% of gas stations in Tampa and St. Petersburg were out of gas Wednesday afternoon, according to GasBuddy. DeSantis said the state's overall supply was fine, and highway patrol officers were escorting tanker trucks to replenish the supply.
In the Tampa Bay area's Gulfport, Christian Burke and his mother stayed put in their three-story concrete home overlooking the bay. Burke said his father designed this home with a Category 5 in mind — and now they’re going to test it.
As a passing police vehicle blared encouragement to evacuate, Burke acknowledged staying isn’t a good idea and said he’s “not laughing at this storm one bit."
UPDATE | Oct. 9, 2024, 4:14 PM CST |
Florida — Hurricane Milton, now a Category 3 storm, is churning toward Florida’s west coast. The Tampa Bay area, home to more than 3.3 million people, is facing the possibility of widespread destruction after avoiding direct hits from major hurricanes for more than a century.
UPDATE | Oct. 9, 2024, 3:39 PM CST |
Florida — Hurricane Milton hurled rain, tornadoes and tropical storm-force winds at the U.S. coast Wednesday on the storm's steady, potentially catastrophic march toward Florida, where officials issued a final plea to residents to evacuate or face grim odds of survival.
The National Hurricane Center stressed that it was not certain where Milton’s center would come ashore Wednesday night because the storm's path might “wobble,” but the entire Tampa Bay region and points south were at grave risk. Tropical storm-force winds began lashing the coast Wednesday afternoon.
"This is it, folks," said Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, which sits on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay. “Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.”
Milton, which has fluctuated in intensity as it approaches Florida, was a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday afternoon. It was expected to remain a hurricane after hitting land and plowing across the state, including the heavily populated Orlando area, through Thursday.
Tampa Bay, near the top of a long stretch of coastline that could be in the bull's-eye, has not taken a direct hit from a major hurricane in more than a century.
Residents should not feel relief because of indications Milton might come ashore south of Tampa, Perkins said: "Everybody in Tampa Bay should assume we are going to be ground zero."
UPDATE | Oct. 9, 2024, 1:00 PM CST |
Florida — Hurricane Milton is churning toward Florida’s west coast. The Tampa Bay area, home to more than 3.3 million people, is facing the possibility of widespread destruction after avoiding direct hits from major hurricanes for more than a century.
UPDATE | Oct. 9, 2024, 10:14 AM CST |
Florida — Hurricane Milton dropped to a Category 4 early Wednesday as it churns toward Florida's west coast. The National Hurricane Center had predicted it would likely weaken, but remain a major hurricane when it makes landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday.
The Tampa Bay area, home to more than 3.3 million people, faced the possibility of widespread destruction after avoiding direct hits from major hurricanes for more than a century.
UPDATE | Oct. 9, 2024, 7:03 AM CST |
Florida — A powerful Hurricane Milton churned through the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida on Wednesday and could wallop one of the state's major population centers with huge storm surges, lashing rain and destructive winds just two weeks after deadly Hurricane Helene swamped the coastline.
Milton was at Category 4 status on Wednesday morning after spending much of Tuesday at a Category 5 level. It is threatening the Tampa Bay area, which is home to more than 3.3 million people and has managed to evade a direct hit from a major hurricane for more than 100 years. Milton is also menacing other stretches of Florida's west coast that were battered when Helene came ashore on Sept. 26.
Traffic was thick as people fled the Tampa area ahead of Milton. As they evacuated, crews along the coast hurried to clear Helene's debris so that Milton doesn't turn it into dangerous projectiles.
National Hurricane Center forecasters warned that Milton is “expected to be a dangerous major hurricane” when it reaches the Florida coast.
Milton is expected to make landfall on Florida's Gulf coast late Wednesday or early Thursday.
“We must be prepared for a major, major impact to the west coast of Florida,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday.
As of Wednesday morning, the storm was about 250 miles southwest of Tampa with sustained winds of 155 mph.
“A northeastward motion with some increase in forward speed is expected" through Wednesday night, the hurricane center said.
President Joe Biden, who postponed an overseas trip so he could remain at the White House to monitor Milton, warned that it “could be one of the worst storms in 100 years to hit Florida."
With the storm expected to remain fairly strong as it crosses Florida, hurricane warnings were extended early Tuesday to parts of the state’s east coast.
UPDATE | Oct. 8, 2024, 6:32 PM CST |
Florida — Hurricane Milton remains a ferocious storm that could land a once-in-a-century direct hit on Tampa and St. Petersburg, engulfing the populous region with towering storm surges and turning debris from Helene’s devastation 12 days ago into projectiles.
While the storm had previously weakened, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said late Tuesday Hurricane Milton was once again a Category 5 storm.
UPDATE | Oct. 8, 2024, 1:32 PM CST |
Florida — Hurricane Milton churned through the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida on Tuesday as an “extremely dangerous” storm that could wallop one of the state's major population centers just two weeks after deadly Hurricane Helene swamped the coastline.
The system is threatening the Tampa Bay area, which is home to more than 3.3 million people and has managed to evade a direct hit from a major hurricane for more than 100 years. Milton is also menacing other stretches of Florida's west coast that were battered when Helene came ashore on Sept. 26.
Traffic was thick Tuesday heading north out of Tampa on Interstate 75 as people fled the area ahead of Milton. As they evacuated, crews along the coast hurried to clear Helene's debris so that Milton doesn't turn it into dangerous projectiles.
Milton strengthened to a Category 5 storm on Monday before weakening Tuesday to a Category 4. National Hurricane Center forecasters warned that the storm will likely remain a major hurricane and could even expand as it approaches Florida. By Tuesday afternoon, it was picking up strength again.
Tampa, Fla. — Hurricane Milton weakened slightly Tuesday but remained a ferocious storm that could land a once-in-a-century direct hit on the populous Tampa Bay region with towering storm surges and turn debris from Helene's devastation 12 days ago into projectiles.
Almost the entirety of Florida's west coast was under a hurricane or tropical storm warning as the storm and its 145 mph winds spun just off Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, creeping toward the state at 12 mph and sucking energy from the Gulf of Mexico's warm waters.
Milton's center could come ashore Wednesday night in the Tampa Bay area, which has a population of more than 3.3 million people. The county that's home to Tampa ordered evacuations for areas adjacent to the bay and for all mobile and manufactured homes by Tuesday night.
“You do not have to get on the interstate and go far away,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a Tuesday morning news briefing, assuring residents that there would be enough gas to fuel their cars for the trip. “You can evacuate tens of miles; you do not have to evacuate hundreds of miles away. You do have options.”
DeSantis said that the state has helped evacuate over 200 health care facilities in Milton’s path and that 36 county-run shelters are open. The state has also been scrambling to remove debris from recent Hurricane Helene, lest the messes become projectiles when Milton strikes. He said the state has deployed over 300 dump trucks that are working around the clock and have removed of 1,200 loads of debris.
Lifeguards on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay removed beach chairs and other items that could take flight in strong winds. Elsewhere, stoves, chairs, refrigerators and kitchen tables waited in heaps to be picked up. Sarah Steslicki, who lives in Belleair Beach, said she was frustrated that more debris had not been collected sooner.
“If this one does hit, it’s going to be flying missiles," she said Monday. "Stuff’s going to be floating and flying in the air.”
The National Hurricane Center downgraded Milton early Tuesday to a Category 4 hurricane, but forecasters said it still posed “ an extremely serious threat to Florida.” Milton had intensified quickly Monday, becoming a Category 5 storm at midday with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph before being downgraded.
Forecasters warned that Milton could bring a 10- to 15-foot storm surge to Tampa Bay, leading to evacuation orders being issued for beach communities all along the Gulf coast. In Florida, that means anyone who stays is on their own and first responders are not expected to risk their lives to rescue them at the height of the storm.
Milton is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous hurricane through landfall and as it makes its way across central Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean with rainfall totals as high as 18 inches (20 centimeters) possible, according to the hurricane center. Parts of the state’s eastern coast were put under hurricane and tropical storm warnings early Tuesday.
That path would largely spare other states ravaged by Helene, which killed at least 230 people on its path from Florida to the Appalachian Mountains.
Tampa Bay has not been hit directly by a major hurricane since 1921, and authorities fear luck is about to run out.
“In the end, it matters where it goes because how it affects people, and if you look at the population in Florida, there’s much more population across the central part of the state than there is in the Big Bend,” said hurricane specialist John Cangialosi, reflecting on Helene's path.
President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Florida, and U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor said 7,000 federal workers were mobilized to help in one of the largest mobilizations of federal personnel in history.
“This is the real deal here with Milton,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor told a Monday news conference. “If you want to take on Mother Nature, she wins 100% of the time.”
The Tampa Bay area is still rebounding from Helene and its powerful surge — a wall of water up to 8 feet it created even though its eye was 100 miles offshore. Twelve people died there, with the worst damage along a string of barrier islands from St. Petersburg to Clearwater.
Stragglers were a problem during Helene and 2022's Ian. Many residents failed to heed ample warnings, saying they evacuated during previous storms only to have major surges not materialize. But there was evidence Monday that people were getting out before Milton arrives.
A steady stream of vehicles headed north toward the Florida Panhandle on Interstate 75 as residents heeded evacuation orders. Traffic clogged the southbound lanes of the highway for miles as other residents headed for the relative safety of Fort Lauderdale and Miami on the other side of the state.
About 150 miles south of Tampa, Fort Myers Beach was nearly a ghost town Monday afternoon as an evacuation order took effect. Ian devastated the 5,000-resident community two years ago, its 15-foot storm surge destroying or severely damaging 400 homes and businesses. Fourteen people died there as they tried to ride out the storm, and dozens had to be rescued.
On Monday, the few residents who could be found were racing against the clock to safeguard their buildings and belongings. None said they were staying.
The signs of Ian's devastation remain visible everywhere. Rebuilt homes stand next to others in various states of construction. There are numerous vacant lots, which were once rare.
“This whole street used to be filled out with houses,” said Mike Sandell, owner of Pool-Rific Services. His workers were removing and storing pumps and heaters Monday from his clients' pools so they wouldn't get destroyed.
Home construction supplies like bricks, piping and even workers' outhouses lined the streets, potential projectiles that could do further damage if a surge hits.
At the beach Monday afternoon, workers busily emptied the triple-wide trailer that houses The Goodz, a combined hardware, convenience, fishing supply, ice cream and beach goods store. Owner Graham Belger said he moved his “Your Island Everything Store” into the trailer after Ian destroyed his permanent building across the street.
“We’ll rebuild, but it is going to be bad," he said.
Nearby, Don Girard and his son Dominic worked to batten down the family’s three-story combination rental and vacation home that’s about 100 feet from the water. Its first-floor garage and entranceway were flooded by Helene last month, Hurricane Debby in August, and a tide brought by a recent supermoon.
Ian was by far the worst. Its waves crashed into the 14-year-old home’s second floor, destroying the flooring. Girard repaired the damage, and his aqua-blue and white home stands in contrast to the older, single-story house across the street. It was submerged by Ian, never repaired and remains vacant. Its once-off-white walls are now tinged with brown. Plywood covers the holes that once contained windows and doors.
Girard, who owns a banner and flag company in Texas, said that while his feelings about owning his home are mostly positive, they are becoming mixed. He said every December, his extended family gathers there for the holidays. At that time of year, temperatures in southwest Florida are usually in the 70s with little rain or humidity. The area and its beaches fill with tourists.
“At Christmas, there is no better place in the world,” Girard said.
But flooding from Ian, the other storms and now Milton is leaving him frustrated.
“It’s been difficult, I’m not going to lie to you," Girard said. “The last couple years have been pretty bad.”
Copyright Associated Press–