US media: Hurricane Milton, which will reach Florida tonight, is the most destructive

INA- sources


Milton slammed into Florida's already storm-blasted west coast Wednesday evening as a Category 3 hurricane threatening huge swaths of Tampa Bay, Sarasota and regions still reeling from the destruction of Helene.
President Joe Biden referred to Hurricane Milton as “the storm of the century” and warned residents to heed evacuation orders. Tropical-storm-force winds, flooding rains and tornadoes were spreading inland as the fierce hurricane made landfall near Siesta Key in Sarasota County.
Numerous news outlets and Tampa residents also posted video of the roof of Tropicana Field being ripped to shreds by Milton's winds. The domed stadium is home to Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays and has recently been used as a base camp to support the Florida Department of Emergency Management ahead of the hurricane.

Milton's sustained winds have tapered off from 145 mph to 120 mph − bringing it down to a Category 3 hurricane − but the storm has grown in size, making its potential damage more widespread. Milton weakened to a Category 2 hurricane after coming ashore, threatening portions of central Florida with "devastating rains and damaging winds" according to the National Hurricane Center's 11 p.m. ET advisory.
Milton is forecast to maintain hurricane intensity as it crosses Florida overnight, the hurricane center said. By late Wednesday, the hurricane carried sustained winds near 105 mph and was 75 miles southwest of Orlando.

About 125 homes had already been destroyed by Hurricane Milton by Wednesday evening, according to Florida officials. Nearly 1 million people were in the dark within 15 minutes of Milton's landfall, according to USA TODAY power outage data.
Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida's Division of Emergency Management, said most of the lost residences were mobile homes in senior communities.
"We're trying to get to Florida's most vulnerable to make sure they're taken care of," he said. But Guthrie assured Florida residents, "We are with you."   
The latest hurricane strike comes on the heels of Helene, which left a trail of devastated communities across six states. Helene, which first hit Florida as a category 4 hurricane on Sept. 26, killed over 200 people and is estimated to have caused between $10.5 and $17.5 billion of insured losses alone.

Milton brings fear of more widespread damage, with tropical storm-force winds extending out to 255 miles, according to the hurricane center. Millions of storm-weary Floridians had been ordered or urged to flee earlier in the day, particularly in the Tampa area, which was initially projected to be in the bulls-eye of the storm.

Tampa, with a metropolitan area that is home to over 3 million people, has not had a direct hit by a major hurricane in more than 100 years. Storm surge from Milton could drive water levels up to 12 feet above ground, the hurricane center said.

Milton is the third hurricane to make landfall in Florida this year. That puts 2024 in a tie with five previous years for the most Florida landfalls in a single season, said Phil Klotzbach, a senior research scientist at Colorado State University. The other years were 1871, 1886, 1964, 2004 and 2005.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking at a briefing earlier Wednesday, said the state is prepared. Hundreds of search and rescue personnel and 180 high-water vehicles have been embedded in likely storm impact sites, he said. Over 6,000 state National Guard members and 3,000 more from other states are at the ready, along with 50,000 linemen who will work on restoring power after the storm.


Hurricane Milton tracker:Follow the latest path of the storm

Developments:

∎ High winds and extreme rainfall rates were expected along and to the north of Interstate 4, the weather service said. A gauge in St. Petersburg, Florida, recorded 5.09 inches of rain in an hour on Wednesday night. In total over 22 hours, a gauge at St. Petersburg's Albert Whitted Airport reported 18.31 inches of rain. Along the Northeast Florida coast, a peak storm surge of 3 to 5 feet is forecast.

∎ Rainfall amounts of 6 to 12 inches, with localized totals up to 18 inches, are expected across central to northern portions of the Florida peninsula through Thursday. The weather service warned that catastrophic flash flooding is possible in north central Florida as Milton crosses the state. 

∎ More than two dozen Florida counties have either mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders in place. More than 20 million people in Florida and eastern Georgia are under either hurricane or tropical storm warnings.

∎ Tornadic supercells − dangerous, rotating thunderstorms that can produce tornadoes − were beginning to sweep across the Florida peninsula, hurricane officials said. The weather service office in Melbourne received reports Wednesday from Okeechobee, Indian River, St. Lucie, and Martin counties "that suggest multiple tornadoes touched down," said William Ulrich, warning coordination meteorologist for the weather service office in Melbourne.

∎ About 2.8% of U.S. gross domestic product is in the direct path of Milton, said Ryan Sweet, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. Airlines, energy firms, and a Universal Studios theme park were among the companies beginning to halt their Florida operations as they braced for disruptions.

MLB stadium damaged; crane collapsed at construction site
After making landfall Wednesday night, Milton battered the Tampa Bay area with high winds and heavy rains. St. Petersburg officials confirmed shortly before midnight that destructive winds damaged the roof at Tropicana Field, home of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays.

Footage from local television stations and photos shared on social media showed part of the stadium’s roof torn off amid high winds. A storm deployed weather sensor on the public beach at Anna Maria Island, near the mouth of Tampa Bay, reported 84-mph sustained winds, with a gust to 106 mph at 10 p.m, said Tyler Fleming, a meteorologist with the weather service in Tampa Bay.

Earlier this week, DeSantis announced that the St. Petersburg stadium would serve as a 10,000-person base camp for debris cleanup operations and first responders. St. Petersburg Fire Rescue told ABC News that authorities were in contact with people inside the stadium and confirmed they were safe.

Officials also reported late Wednesday that a crane collapsed at a building construction site. Earlier, the city shared a video showing winds uprooting a tree at a local hotel.

“The public is urged to continue to shelter in place and avoid both areas until further notice,” the city of St. Petersburg said in a statement. “No injuries have been reported in either incident at this time.”


President Biden: 'It's a matter of life and death'
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were among the administration officials urging Florida residents Wednesday to follow safety instructions as Milton bore down on the state.

“It’s a matter, literally, of life and death,” Biden said at a White House emergency briefing, referring to the hurricane as “the storm of the century.”

Biden has approved emergency declarations for Florida and sent search and rescue teams as well as emergency food, water, power generators and ambulances to the region. In an evening briefing, the president said the Defense Department has also positioned helicopters and high-water rescue vehicles as close to the storm as possible to be ready to conduct life-saving missions.

Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, encouraged residents in the storm's wake to take precautions. “This is a storm that by every measure, understand, it's going to be more dangerous, more deadly and more catastrophic,” she said.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who located to Florida's capital, Tallahassee, for Milton’s landfall, said there are more than 1,000 federal personnel in Florida addressing the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and other recent storms. She has directed an additional 1,200 search-and-rescue workers to the state to respond to Milton.

"Floridians, they're no strangers to these storms," Criswell said. "But this one, Hurricane Milton, it is expected to be catastrophic. And I promise you that FEMA is ready."

− Joey Garrison

Reverse storm surge in Tampa Bay
As Milton approached, the water began rushing out of Tampa Bay in a phenomenon known as reverse storm surge. The phenomena happens when powerful winds in a landfalling hurricane blow from the land over a bay or waterway and push the water out. South of Tampa along the coast, storm surge was flooding into communities, with increases in water levels exceeding 4-8 feet in some locations. Officials along the Southwest Florida coast warned the storm surge could continue rising into the early morning hours. 

Meteorologist Tyler Fleming confirmed to USA TODAY Wednesday night a reverse surge is happening in Tampa Bay. He said water levels for the bay are below normal tide, but urged people to remain indoors until officials give the all-clear.

"It can cause infrastructure problems and people tend to walk out, which is incredibly dangerous with the water coming back in," he said. 

Nearly 100 tornado warnings from Milton
Even before making landfall, Milton brought a punch for many Floridians as its outer bands prompted 98 tornado warnings from the Tampa Bay, Melbourne and Miami offices of the National Weather Service, the agency said Wednesday.

NWS-Miami meteorologist Will Redman said a preliminary report found at least nine tornadoes were confirmed in Miami, where the office had received 23 reports for South Florida as of 7 p.m. ET. The reports came from trained spotters and residents either seeing a tornado touch down or damage from a possible tornado, according to Redman, who said the worst of Milton has passed for that area.

"We were never expected to get too much rain from the hurricane," Redman said. "We're just expected to get tropical storm-force winds from the storm with the outer bands."

− Krystal Nurse

'Wall of black': Tornadoes cause widespread damage
Reported tornadoes tore through parts of southwest Florida on Wednesday, including in Collier County and Lee County, causing extensive damage across Fort Myers and Cape Coral.