Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm last night, hitting the coast with 100 mph winds, heavy rain and a string of tornadoes across the state. The Tampa Bay area was spared Milton's direct impact as the eye of the storm did not pass over the area.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the storm had maximum sustained winds of 205 km/h when it made landfall at 8:30 p.m. local time on October 9 near Siesta Key, a stretch of beach home to 5,500 people about 112 km south of Tampa.
More than 1.5 million homes and businesses were without power in Florida, mostly concentrated in Hardee County, along with neighboring Sarasota and Manatee counties.
The Tampa Bay area hasn't been directly impacted by a major hurricane in more than a century, but Hurricane Milton still caused potentially life-threatening storm surge in much of Florida's Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas like Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
Heavy rains are also likely to cause flooding along rivers and lakes as Milton moves across the Florida Peninsula. About 125 homes were destroyed before the storm made landfall, most of them mobile homes for seniors.
Multiple tornadoes spawned by the storm swept across Florida, posing a dangerous threat. Videos posted to social media showed large funnel clouds over residential areas in Palm Beach County and elsewhere in the state.
About 90 minutes after making landfall, Hurricane Milton was about 30 kilometers northeast of Sarasota and had weakened to a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 175 kilometers per hour. The storm was moving east-northeast at 26 kilometers per hour.
Milton will sweep across the state of Florida, including the heavily populated Orlando area, through October 10.
Authorities had previously issued mandatory evacuation orders for 15 Florida counties with a combined population of about 7.2 million. Officials warned that anyone who chose to stay would be on their own, as rescuers would be hard pressed to reach them during the storm’s most intense moments.
Many parts of Florida will be dealing with storms and damage this week. If you are planning to visit these areas, consider canceling or postponing your trip, monitor weather forecasts and announcements from airlines and service providers, and follow all instructions from local authorities.
