photo caption, Hours before making landfall, Milton was already making itself felt in Florida with strong winds.Item information
- Author, Writing
- Author’s title, BBC News World
- October 10, 2024, 00:45 GMT
Updated 4 hours
Milton made landfall this Wednesday as a category 3 hurricane on the west coast of the US state of Florida, and then dropped to category 1, and is moving eastward, causing strong flooding and dangerous gales.
As expected, the cyclone from the Gulf of Mexico entered the peninsula through the central part of its west coast, south of Tampa Bay, around 8:30 p.m. local time (00:30 GMT), reported the US National Hurricane Center (CNH).
Deaths were confirmed in St Lucie County, on Florida’s west coast, from storms prior to the hurricane’s entry, but the number is still unclear.
Milton made his entry into the state with strong wind gusts of about 200 km/h, which as it penetrated the territory gradually dropped to 185, 177, 165, 160 and 145 km/haccording to CNH measurements.
In its weakening process, it became a category 2 hurricane and, five hours after making landfall, it was downgraded to category 1.
It is moving in an east-northeast direction at 24 km/h, causing ‘life-threatening’ storm surgeextreme winds and flash floods.
Floods and widespread blackout
photo caption, Milton left streets flooded in coastal towns like Fort Myers.
In the most affected areas, sea levels rose up to 3 meterswhich combined with strong winds has the potential to cause serious flooding and damage that has not yet been proven.
In the rest of the west coast of Florida, water growth of between 30 centimeters and more than 2.5 meters was estimated.
Added to this are the intense rains that the cyclone is leaving in its wake. up to 200 and 300 liters per square meter in some areas, according to the CNH.
At least 2 million homes and businesses have lost poweraccording to the specialized website PowerOutage.us.
It is likely that in its path the hurricane will end up leaving millions of people without power for an indefinite period of time.
Image source, Reuters
photo caption, The hurricane will probably destroy street furniture, leaving the streets in darkness.
Millions of evacuees
A few hours before making landfall, Milton was downgraded from a Category 4 hurricane (winds up to 251 km/h) to category 3 (up to 208 km/h).
Shortly before making landfall it had maximum sustained winds of 205 km/h.
The CNH announced that the hurricane would be “extremely dangerous” when it reached the central-west coast of Florida, where preparations and evacuations “should have been completed this morning.”
Image source, NOAA
photo caption, The storm affected practically the entire state of Florida.
The Tampa Bay metropolitan area was placed on high alert and part of its three million inhabitants received evacuation orders.
In that and other areas under hurricane warning millions of people left risk areas with mandatory evacuation order in 15 counties on the west coast of Florida.
The authorities warned that if they did not do so, they could lose their lives.
“It’s a matter of life or death,” said President Joe Biden.
This does not mean that the entire population of the strip threatened by Milton has fled or been evacuated; many of its inhabitants, especially those who live in more resistant buildings, have stayed at home.
“Take shelter and resist”
When a hurricane makes landfall tends to lose intensitysince it is separated from the warm waters that provide it energy and encounters greater friction on the Earth’s surface.
After passing through west-central Florida, Milton is expected to cross the peninsula passing through the Orlando metropolitan area -with almost 2 million inhabitants.
It will continue to be a hurricane until it leaves the east coast towards Bermuda, where it should have already been downgraded to a tropical storm, according to CNH estimates.
photo caption, Photo taken in Brandon (Tampa metropolitan area) after the passage of Milton.
Shortly before Milton made landfall, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned that it was no longer safe to continue evacuating.
“So Now they must take refuge where they are and resist“DeSantis warned, urging residents to stay indoors and off the roads.
President Biden thanked the emergency services for their work and stated that he maintains direct communication with local authorities and will receive updates on the evolution of the storm throughout the night.
Milton is the third hurricane to make landfall in Florida this year, after Helene and Debby, and the most powerful.
Only 5 times since 1871 has Florida received three cyclones in a single season.
It is also the fifth hurricane to reach the US coast of the Gulf of Mexico this year, a figure that has only three precedents.
Here in Tampa the alerts keep ringing
Gordon Corera, BBC News journalist from Tampa
Here it rains heavily and the wind is intense.
I can see palm trees shaking and the occasional branch falling.
Our team’s phones are also ringing with regular emergency alerts warning of extreme winds and flooding risks in our area.
We are on higher ground, so we are much less likely to be hit by storm surge than other areas.
The main concern at the hotel we stayed at is that the power goes out at some point.
Most of the people staying here are local residents from low-lying areas; They just want to get this over with and see what they face tomorrow.
And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and activate them.
