NOTE: Watch a live look from St. Petersburg as Hurricane Milton nears landfall
The first of Hurricane Milton's impacts started to be felt across parts of Florida Wednesday with the potentially devastating storm set to make landfall in a matter of hours.
Though downgraded to a Category 3 storm Wednesday afternoon, forecasters said Milton remains a "grave threat" to Florida.
Here's a look at what's happening around the region:
St. Peterburg
St. Petersburg officials warned residents Wednesday afternoon that regardless of where the storm hits, the city should prepare for extended power outages and the possible shutdown of its sewerage system.
Mayor Ken Welch said residents should brace for a long recovery.
Local
“This is the reality of a direct hit from a powerful hurricane in our area. This is not a storm that we will recover from quickly. We have a long road ahead of us, but we will recover and we will rebuild,” Welch said. “But for the next several hours, our focus is to keep everyone safe, and we can do that.”
Lee County
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In Lee County, which includes Fort Myers about 95 miles (153 kilometers) southeast of Tampa, Public Safety Director Ben Abes said Wednesday that the county’s law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services will not respond to calls beginning later Wednesday when the weather worsens.
“Our area hospitals may also lock down, which would prevent access for ... ambulances,” Abes said.
Abes said tropical storm force winds were coming ashore and the time to evacuate has passed.
“It is not safe to be out and it is not safe to return to your home if you have evacuated,” Abes said. “The time to shelter in place is now.”
Abes said the county’s 13 shelters are housing more than 6,700 people.
Tampa Bay
Four major bridges in the Tampa Bay area, including the famous Sunshine Skyway Bridge, have closed.
The Skyway spans the mouth of Tampa Bay and links Pinellas and Manatee counties, carrying Interstate 275. It’s often closed when winds from any source reach a certain threshold.
The other three bridges cross Tampa Bay, linking Tampa with cities such as Clearwater and St. Petersburg. Those are the Howard Frankland, which also carries I-275, the Gandy and the Courtney Campbell Causeway.
Manatee County
Manatee County officials warned residents who haven’t evacuated the area that it’s now too late.
“Where you are now is where you are going to be during the duration of Milton,” said the county’s chief of emergency management, Matt Myers. “The conditions are rapidly getting worse.”
Myers said EMS and fire protection are no longer responding to the county’s islands and bridges are closed.
Cape Coral
Just after noon Wednesday, surge was already starting to appear along the harbor in Cape Coral, at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River.
The water had moved well up the beach and was nearing the parking lot. A pier was within a foot of being submerged.
Heavy rains from bands associated with Hurricane Milton were bringing heavy rain and wind gusts up to 40 mph.
Fort Myers
An apparent tornado touched down in a Fort Myers neighborhood near Page Field Airport.
It happened Wednesday afternoon, well in advance of Hurricane Milton’s arrival.
Trees limbs were snapped off, the canopy from a gas station was torn to shreds and pieces of it littered the road, and and ice machine was thrown about 30 feet (9 meters).
The neighborhood has branches from trees strewn across the road. The area remains in a tornado watch throughout the day.
Orlando
Tourism in Orlando rapidly came to a standstill Wednesday with the main airport and at least three theme parks and other businesses set to shut down, leaving Florida residents and visitors fleeing Hurricane Milton to hunker down in area hotels.
Orlando International Airport, the nation's seventh busiest and Florida's most trafficked, ceased operations Wednesday morning.
Southern Florida
The National Weather service said much of the southern part of Florida is under a tornado watch.
More than 12 million people in the state faced the threat of tornadoes along with hail and wind, the service said.
Latest timing
Officials said they expect the hurricane to make landfall in the area overnight. They urged citizens sheltering in place to stay in the center of their home and make sure their devices are charged.
Hurricane Milton continued to fluctuate in intensity as it neared landfall in Florida.
According to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall late Wednesday. The agency said the storm will make landfall along the center of Florida’s west coast.
The hurricane center had previously said landfall could come late Wednesday or early Thursday.
Hurricane Milton dropped to a Category 4 early Wednesday. The National Hurricane Center had predicted it would likely weaken, but remain a major hurricane when it makes landfall.
The Tampa Bay area, home to more than 3.3 million people, faced the possibility of widespread destruction after avoiding direct hits from major hurricanes for more than a century.
“Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida,” the National Hurricane Center said in a forecast discussion.
The hurricane was expected to make landfall late Wednesday night on Florida’s west coast near Tampa, but forecasters said “it is critical to remember that even at 24 hours out, it is still not possible to pinpoint an an exact landfall location.”
As of early Wednesday, the hurricane, with winds of 160 miles-per-hour, was in the Gulf of Mexico, north of Cuba and southwest of Florida. A live Hurricane Milton tracker can be found below.
What part of Florida will Milton hit?
New evacuation orders have been issued as officials say time to leave is running out.
Shortly before noon Wednesday, officials in Pasco County, home to more than 500,000 people in bedroom communities for Tampa and St. Petersburg, said they were getting ready to take buses off the roads.
“This is your last chance if you need to get to a shelter,” the Pasco County Public Information Office said in a written statement. “After that, you’ll need to find a way to the shelter or be prepared to ride out the storm.”
The county has six shelters open for anyone in mandatory evacuation zones.
As of 6 a.m. Wednesday, the storm was forecast to hit near Sarasota, just south of Tampa.
"Perhaps landfall in this area, the Florida barrier islands," Roman said.
By Thursday, the hurricane was expected to move through the state and into the eastern part, with winds of around 80 mph.
"But by then, the damage will be done," Roman said.
Fifteen Florida counties, home to more than 7.2 million people, were under mandatory evacuation orders as of Wednesday morning.
Here's the full list:
- Charlotte County
- Citrus County
- Collier County
- Flagler County
- Hernando County
- Hillsborough County
- Lee County
- Levy County
- Manatee County
- Marion County
- Pasco County
- Pinellas County
- Sarasota County
- St. Johns County
- Volusia County
Multiple other Florida counties had voluntary evacuation orders, including Seminole County, Palm Beach County, Osceola County, Orange County, Nassau County and Miami-Dade County. A full list from the Florida officials can be found here.
