Hurricane Milton is bearing down on Florida’s coast this week, threatening to hammer areas of the state that were left with serious damage after Hurricane Helene just weeks ago.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Milton is still a very powerful Category 4 hurricane, with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour as it churns to the northeast after impacting the northern coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
The storm is expected to make landfall along the west-central coast of Florida on Wednesday night, and to continue to drift across central Florida into Thursday.
The storm is also expected to experience “fluctuations in intensity,” but to be “extremely dangerous” when it makes landfall. Hurricane-force winds in excess of 70 miles per hour are expected up to 30 miles from the center of the storm, and tropical storm-force winds could extend as far as 100 miles from the center of the storm.
For some Florida residents, the arrival of Milton threatens to further devastate areas that were already impacted by Helene, which made landfall less than two weeks ago in the “Big Bend” region of the state.
Helene arrived on Sept. 26, making landfall just east of the Aucilla River and approximately 10 miles to the west-southwest of Perry, Florida, located in the state’s panhandle.
That storm had sustained winds of 140 miles per hour as it came onshore, and ultimately was connected to more than 240 deaths and billions of dollars in damage.
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While the storm made landfall further north than the area where Milton is expected to roar onshore, it still had devastating impacts for areas that will be again targeted by this hurricane. According to officials, thousands of residents living near Tampa Bay lost power as a result of the storm, with Tampa seeing storm surges of more than seven feet.
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Storm surges could be even higher in Clearwater Beach, which suffered significant wind damage from Helene as it came onshore.
Sarasota County, just to the south of Tampa, experienced serious damage as well, with an estimated $40.8 million in losses tied to damaging winds. According to CoreLogic, Helene was the third-most costly storm to ever strike Sarasota and Manatee counties.
Wind gusts in Helene reached above 60 miles per hour in Fort Lauderdale and Naples, according to NWS estimates.
All of these areas are still cleaning up debris from the previous storm, but could ultimately be impacted by the landfall of Milton, with hurricane-force winds and massive storm surges possible along the Florida Coast.
According to the latest estimates from the National Hurricane Center, an area from the Anclote River to Englewood could experience storm surges of 10-to-15 feet, with Tampa Bay, Clearwater Beach and Sarasota all firmly within that area.
Even areas in the “Big Bend” of the state could see storm surges related to Milton, with Yankeetown potentially seeing waters rise by 3-to-5 feet.
In addition, Tampa could potentially see hurricane-force winds between 80 to 100 miles per hour according to NHC estimates, with gusts of up to 115 miles per hour possible. Those winds are expected to arrive Wednesday evening and persist through Thursday morning, with flooding rains and tornadoes also possible in the Tampa area.
In fact, if the hurricane makes a direct hit on Tampa Bay, it would be the first major hurricane to strike the region in more than 100 years, according to PBS.
The storm is expected to make landfall late Wednesday, drifting across the state through Thursday afternoon. Rainfall amounts of 5-to-12 inches, with localized totals of up to 18 inches, are possible across most of central Florida, which could lead to devastating urban and flash flooding in the region, according to officials.
