Tampa. The hurricane Milton It arrived in Florida on Wednesday as a Category 3 storm, hitting the coast with strong winds and rain, in addition to causing a series of tornadoes throughout the state. Tampa avoided a direct hit.
The cyclone had maximum sustained winds of 205 km/h (120 mph) when it made landfall at 8:30 pm near Siesta Key, according to the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC). which is based in Miami.
Siesta Key is a thriving stretch of white sand beaches home to about 5,500 people, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Tampa. The Tampa Bay area has not been directly hit by a Category 3 or larger hurricane in more than a century, but the storm still brings potentially deadly storm surge to much of Florida’s west coast, including areas highly towns such as Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
The National Weather Service said there was flash flooding in the Tampa Bay area, including St. Petersburg, where more than 16 inches (41 centimeters) of rain has fallen so far.
Heavy rain will likely cause inland flooding near rivers and streams as Milton cross the Florida peninsula at hurricane strength until exiting the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday.
More than 1.5 million homes and businesses were without power Wednesday night in Florida, according to the website poweroutage.us, which tracks reports from power companies. The largest number of outages were in Hardee County, as well as neighboring Sarasota and Manatee counties.
Before Milton made landfall, there were already tornadoes across the state. Spanish Lakes Country Club, near Fort Pierce on Florida’s Atlantic coast, was particularly hard hit, with homes destroyed and some residents killed.
“We have lost some lives,” St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson told WPBF News, although he would not say how many people died.
About 125 homes were destroyed even before the hurricane made landfall, many of them mobile homes in senior living communities, said Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
About 90 minutes after landfall, the vortex Milton It was about 20 miles (30 kilometers) northeast of Sarasota and had weakened slightly, with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph (175 km/h), becoming a Category 2 storm, the NHC reported. The meteor is moving east-northeast at 26 km/h (16 mph).
Milton hit a region of Florida that has not yet recovered from the hurricane Helenewhich caused severe damage to coastal communities with storm surges that, in Pinellas County alone, caused the deaths of a dozen people.
Before their arrival, authorities had advised residents to evacuate or face little chance of survival.
“It’s over, folks,” said Cathie Perkins, emergency management director for Pinellas County, which is located on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay. “Those who were hit by the hurricane Helenethis is going to be a knockout. “They need to leave here and they need to leave now.”
But by sundown, some officials said the time to evacuate was up, and suggested that those who remained hunker down wherever they were. In the evening, some counties announced they had suspended emergency services.
Several tornadoes caused by the hurricane in Florida dangerously announced the arrival of Milton. Videos posted on social media showed large funnel clouds over neighborhoods in Palm Beach County and other parts of the state.
Storm surge is forecast to reach 9 feet (2.7 meters) in Tampa Bay.
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