Tornadoes, flooding and risk of storm surge as Hurricane Milton hits Florida

Key points
  • Milton has weakened further and is now a Category 1 hurricane.
  • It could hit the Tampa Bay area with a life-threatening wave of seawater.
  • About two million people have been ordered to evacuate.
Hurricane Milton marched through central Florida after making landfall on the state’s west coast hours earlier, spawning deadly tornadoes, destroying homes and knocking out power to nearly two million customers.
The storm, which made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane, has since weakened to a Category 1 hurricane, according to the latest advisory from the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC).

In a state already ravaged by Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, as many as two million people were ordered to evacuate, and millions more are living in the storm’s expected path.

Hurricane Milton weather

The roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, appeared to be heavily damaged when Hurricane Milton passed through St. Petersburg, Florida on Thursday, October 10, 2024. Credit: CHRIS URSO/AP/MONKE

The storm made landfall around 8:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday with maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour near Siesta Key, the NHC said.

Houses destroyed

By 11 p.m., wind speeds had decreased to 100 mph (165 km/h), making Milton a Category 2 hurricane, which is nevertheless still considered extremely dangerous. The eye of the storm was located 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Orlando, in the center of the state.

At least two deaths were reported at a nursing home after a suspected tornado in Fort Pierce on Florida’s east coast, NBC News reported, citing St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson.

Pearson estimated that 100 homes were destroyed in the county, where about 17 tornadoes touched down.
According to the website PowerOutage.us, more than 1.8 million homes and businesses in Florida were without power.
Most hurricane deaths occur when trees fall on people on the street, in their cars or in their homes, the NHC warned.

Others die from accidents after the storm, such as setting their homes on fire with candles, igniting leaked gas with flashlights and asphyxiation from carbon monoxide produced by generators. People die of heart attacks and other medical problems after storms, as well as in accidents while using chainsaws to clear fallen trees, NHC Director Michael Brennan said in a video briefing.

Officials issued increasingly dire warnings local time on Wednesday as landfall approached.
President Joe Biden urged people to follow local safety recommendations.

“It’s literally a matter of life and death,” Biden said during a White House briefing.

The third fastest intensifying storm ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean

The NHC called the storm “extremely dangerous.”
The center of Milton is forecast to make landfall just south of the Tampa Bay area within the next hour or two, then move across the central part of the Florida peninsula overnight and emerge off the east coast of Florida on Thursday. the hurricane center said.
The storm could produce a sea surge of up to 2.7 to 4 meters in some areas and dump 150 to 300 mm of rain, with as much as 450 mm in some places. The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed at least 16 tornadoes in Florida on Wednesday, with more expected into the early hours of Thursday.

At sea, the hurricane caused waves of almost 8.5 meters high, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

A satellite image shows Hurricane Milton in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida.

Milton became the third-fastest intensifying storm on record in the Atlantic Ocean, growing from Category 1 to Category 5 in less than 24 hours. Source: MONKEY / National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

According to the Florida 511 website, the four bridges over Tampa Bay were closed before the storm made landfall.

Most causeways connecting the Gulf barrier islands to the mainland were also closed, leaving anyone who decided to ride out the storm despite pleas from officials stranded.

Milton became the third-fastest intensifying storm on record in the Atlantic Ocean, growing from Category 1 to Category 5 in less than 24 hours.

Much of the southern US as it cut a swath of destruction through Florida and several other states. Both storms are expected to cause untold billions of dollars in damage.

Fueled by unusually warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, the storm would hit the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, home to more than three million people, as a major hurricane with a massive footprint.

‘Extraordinary’ tornadoes

As of Wednesday evening, more than 130 tornado warnings associated with Milton had been issued by NWS offices in Florida.
Scientists say the appearance of tornadoes before and during hurricanes is not unusual, but the ferocity of the tornadoes was.
“It’s absolutely extraordinary,” said Victor Gensini, professor of meteorology at Northern Illinois University.
“Hurricanes produce tornadoes, but they are usually weak.

“What we saw today was much closer to what we see in the Great Plains in the spring.”

A car drives down a road approaching a tornado.

Scientists say the appearance of tornadoes before and during hurricanes is not unusual. Credit: X/NWSMiami

Tornadoes spawned by hurricanes and tropical storms most often occur in the right front quadrant of the storm. Still, they can sometimes occur near the storm’s eyewall, according to NOAA.

The heat and humidity present in the atmosphere during such storms and changes in wind direction or speed with height, known as wind shear, contribute to their likelihood.
“There’s an incredible amount of vortex going on,” Gensini said of the conditions that allowed the twisters to grow.
“Those tornadoes were just in a very favorable environment.”

Warming oceans due to climate change are making hurricanes more intense, but Gensini said he was not aware of any connection between human-induced warming and the deadly tornadoes Florida residents experienced with Milton.

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