Home » World » Florida prepares for the strongest storm in more than 100 years: ‘It’s unbelievable’

Florida prepares for the strongest storm in more than 100 years: ‘It’s unbelievable’

International•8 Oct ’24 10:41Author: Noor van Baarlen

A state of emergency has been declared in Florida again, but this time because of Hurricane Milton. This extreme storm has grown into a hurricane of the strongest category with wind gusts of 250 kilometers per hour. Milton is expected to visit the American territory during Thursday night. Meteorologist Reinout van den Born of weerverteller.nl finds the situation ‘unbelievable.’

Florida declared another state of emergency, this time due to Hurricane Milton.

5 min 11 sec

Last week, part of Florida was devastated by Hurricane Helene, killing 200 people. According to Van den Born, it is surprising how quickly this new hurricane is developing. ‘On Sunday it was still a tropical storm, yesterday a category 5 hurricane and with an average wind of 290 km per hour.’ The last storm that was so intense there occurred in 1921, 103 years ago. “It’s incredible,” said Van den Born.

A state of emergency has been declared again in Florida, but this time due to Hurricane Milton (ANP / REX by Shutterstock)

The city of Tampa must prepare now because the hurricane threatens to make landfall there. People in the city are advised to evacuate. According to Van den Born, the mayor of the city said that if you don’t do that, you will simply die. “That’s why you saw the images of highways yesterday with everyone on their way north.”

Magnitude of the hurricane

Milton is expected to lose some strength before making landfall in Florida. ‘That actually started last night, the hurricane now has a force of 265 km per hour and that will become around 200 km per hour when the hurricane enters Florida. You can’t imagine how much wind that is.’

Van den Born also mentions that the other side of the story is that the hurricane is getting bigger. An increasingly larger area is therefore confronted with it. Florida has been hit by hurricanes before this year: ‘It is the third hurricane to make landfall in Florida. So you can say that Florida is going to be extremely battered this year.’

Hurricane season

It’s the late season and there are still hurricanes. According to the meteorologist, this is possible because this would be the most active hurricane season of the century. For example, water temperatures are at a record high and there were many breaks in the hurricane season, because the showers that cause the hurricanes were much further north than expected. “As a result, there is still an enormous amount of heat available for hurricanes that can now form, but the Gulf of Mexico was also still record warm, so that will continue for a while,” said the meteorologist.

Influence on the Netherlands

The Netherlands may also have to deal with the consequences of hurricanes, according to Van den Born. ‘Hurricane Kirk, which is located in the middle of the ocean, will soon enter Europe via northwest Spain and France. That is the first of this year and it also seemed to go to the Netherlands, but the country will probably miss it now.’

The Netherlands may still receive rain on Thursday as a result of this hurricane. “The remnants of hurricanes will also bring us late summer,” says Van den Born.

Subscribe now to the BNR Newsletter for your daily dose of news and podcast tips. In your mailbox every morning and/or afternoon so that you are always informed. Stay Sharp.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.