Hurricane Milton dropped to Category 4 early Wednesday churns to the west coast of Florida. The National Hurricane Center had forecast that the hurricane would likely weaken but would remain a major hurricane when it makes landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday.
The Tampa Bay areawhere more than 3.3 million people live, was confronted with the possibility widespread destruction after more than a century of avoiding direct hits from major hurricanes.
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That includes 6,000 members of the Florida National Guard and 3,000 National Guard members from other states.
“This is the largest search and rescue mobilization of the Florida National Guard in the entire history of the state of Florida,” he said during a briefing Wednesday morning.
There are 31,000 people in shelters and room for almost 200,000 people, “so there is space available in these shelters,” he said.
The National Weather Service in Miami posted a photo on the social platform X of the funnel crossing the highway Wednesday morning with the words: “TORNADO crossing I-75 as we speak! Find shelter NOW!”
“The roads and highways are flowing,” he said, but added that traffic conditions could deteriorate during the day on Wednesday.
But during a briefing Wednesday morning, the governor said patrol cars with sirens are escorting gas tankers to direct them through traffic to replenish supplies.
“And they are continuing with the fuel escorts at this time,” he said.
In the area around Port Charlotte, about 100 miles southeast of Tampa, officials said water pressure would be reduced Wednesday morning.
Utilities for Charlotte County would also be suspended at noon. Officials said on the county’s web page that storm surges and heavy rains will flood the sewer system, making it difficult to keep wastewater flowing properly.
Milton is expected to make landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast late Wednesday or early Thursday.
“We must be prepared for a major impact on the west coast of Florida,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Tuesday.
On Wednesday morning, the storm was about 210 miles southwest of Tampa and moving northeast at 16 mph.
But there were no immediate strong winds. Most businesses were closed as people completed storm preparations and arrived at the location where they would weather the storm.
They also provide other important information, such as shelter locations. On Wednesday morning, Pinellas County sent people text messages, emails and direct cell phone calls warning of the dangers. Similar methods are used in neighboring Hillsborough County and other locations.
“This is it, folks,” Emergency Management Director Cathie Perkins said at a news conference Wednesday morning. “Those of you who took a hit during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.”
Perkins said 13 public shelters are open for people with no other way to escape the storm and that major bridges around Tampa Bay would begin to close in the afternoon. Perkins also said people should not feel a sense of relief over indications that Milton could make landfall south of Tampa.
“Everyone in Tampa Bay should assume that we are going to be ground zero,” she said.
Man-made climate change has caused a devastating effect Hurricane Helene ‘s rainfall intensified by about 10% and winds by about 11%, scientists said in a new flash study released as a strengthening Hurricane Milton threatens the Florida coast less than two weeks later.
The warming climate increased Helene’s wind speeds by about 13 miles per hour, making the high sea temperatures which is 200 to 500 times more likely to have sparked the storm, Attribution of world weather calculated from Europe on Wednesday. Ocean temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico were about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above average, WWA said.
“Hurricane Helene and the storms that hit the region anyway have all been amplified by the fact that the air is warmer and can hold more moisture, which meant that rainfall overall – which, even without climate change, would be incredibly high been. given the circumstances – were even higher,” Ben Clarke, co-author of the study and a climate researcher at Imperial College London, said in an interview.
Milton will likely be similarly squeezed, the authors said.
The scientists warned that the continued burning of fossil fuels will lead to more hurricanes like Helene, with “unimaginable” flooding far inland, and not just on the coast. Many of those who died in Helene were victims of massive inland flooding, rather than high winds.
▶ Read more about the effects of climate change on hurricanes.
In Charlotte Harbor, about two blocks from the water, Josh Parks spent Wednesday morning packing his Kia sedan with his clothes and other belongings from his small triplex apartment.
The clouds drifted around and the wind began to blow. Two weeks ago, Helene’s wave brought about 5 feet of water to the neighborhood, where streets were still filled with waterlogged furniture, torn drywall and other debris.
“It’s a ghost town here,” said Parks, an automotive technician.
His roommate had already fled and Parks wasn’t sure when he would return.
“I told her to pack like you’re not coming back,” said Parks, who fled to his daughter’s home inland.
Law enforcement vehicles Wednesday morning blocked the bridge from the mainland to the barrier island of St. Pete Beach, where officials had closed access to this series of low-lying barrier islands jutting into the Gulf as of Tuesday evening.
All residents of these low-lying communities west of the city of St. Petersburg are under mandatory evacuation orders, as another storm arrives less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene killed 12 people in the Tampa Bay area, including residents who did not leave . – and then drowned in their homes.
On a bench on the side of the road that bisects the small island of Deadman Key, plastic bags filled with clothing and a shopping cart full of someone’s personal belongings sat in the pouring rain, apparently abandoned by the owner ahead of the expected Hurricane Milton. influence.
Three boats had already crashed into a low-lying seawall and under a bridge, apparently victims of Helene, which unleashed a deadly storm surge into dozens of homes in Pinellas County even as the eye of that storm remained 100 miles offshore. this stretch of coast.
Officials warn that a direct hit from Hurricane Milton would bring much greater risks to this part of the state.
The National Weather Service issued the watch Wednesday morning, which covers much of Florida, including the Tampa area, the Florida Keys and Miami-Dade County.
“We’ve seen a lot of questions about, ‘Well, I live on a creek’ or ‘I live on a river, is it really going to be 10 to 15 feet high where I live?'” Sarasota County Emergency Management Chief Sandra Tapfumaneyi said. early Wednesday in a briefing.
“That storm surge will start at 10 to 15 feet near the shoreline and then travel further,” she said. “And storm surge likes to take the path of least resistance. So those of you who live near a river, who live near a creek, those riverbanks, your water will come up.”
“We don’t want you to stay in your house when you’re near a body of water,” Tapfumaneyi said.
“This will be an intense disaster for Sarasota County,” she added. “Evacuate now if you haven’t already.”