Hurricane Milton made landfall on the west coast of Florida early Wednesday evening as a Category 3 storm, bringing potentially devastating conditions to much of the state.
Milton has fluctuated in intensity as it approached Florida and became a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday afternoon. Millions have been ordered to evacuate and bridges were closing as the storm was expected to bring massive surges, damaging winds and flooding rains.
The landfall comes slightly earlier than previous predictions had suggested, which anticipated landfall in Sarasota between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET Wednesday, or overnight.
Track it live below:
Search and rescue efforts were underway in Florida shortly after landfall, on a day where numerous tornadoes ripped through the region.
About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane made landfall, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens, said Kevin Guthrie, the director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management.
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More than 1 million homes and businesses were also left without power in wake of the storm, with Sarasota County and Manatee County bearing the brunt of the outages.
Wind gusts as high as 102 miles per hour (165 km/h) were reported at a Tampa Bay-area fishing pier, with sustained winds of 115 miles per hour recorded as the storm passed near Sarasota.
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“We are bracing and prepared to receive a major hit,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a briefing.
The storm is threatening the Tampa Bay area, a major population center that is home to more than 3.3 million people and has managed to evade a direct hit from a major hurricane for over 100 years.
Milton, which had already brought rain, winds and tornadoes, is threatening communities already battered by deadly Hurricane Helene, which came ashore just two weeks ago.
National Hurricane Center forecasters warned Milton, which has grown in size, is “expected to remain an extremely dangerous major hurricane” when it reaches Florida's coast.
"Really dynamic volatile system," NBC's Al Roker said during a Special Report Wednesday.
What part of Florida will Milton hit?
The ferocious storm could land a once-in-a-century direct hit on Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, engulfing the populous region with towering storm surges and turning debris from Helene’s devastation 12 days ago into projectiles.
“This is going to be an intense disaster for Sarasota County,” Sarasota County Emergency Management Chief Sandra Tapfumaneyi said in a briefing early Wednesday. “Evacuate now if you have not done so already.”
In Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg and Clearwater, officials say the window to evacuate was rapidly closing.
"This is it, folks,” Emergency Management Director Cathie Perkins said at a Wednesday morning news conference. “Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out and you need to get out now.”
“Everybody in Tampa Bay should assume we are going to be ground zero,” Perkins added.
The hurricane also sparked a Tornado watch in more than 20 Florida counties, including the Tampa area, Florida Keys and Miami-Dade county, with a tornado touching down on Interstate 75.
Gov. Ron DeSantis Wednesday said to people choosing to remain home on barrier islands, “just know that if you get 10 feet of storm surge, you can’t just hunker down with that.”
“If you’re on the southern part of this storm, you are going to get storm surge,” DeSantis said.
“It’s churning massive amounts of water, and that water is going to come out,” he added. “Man, if you’re anywhere in the eye or south, you are going to get major storm surge.”
Latest Florida evacuation orders: List of counties
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.
How bad is damage expected to be?
Florida's Gulf Coast is especially vulnerable to storm surge.
Helene came ashore about 180 miles north of Tampa and still caused drowning deaths in the Tampa area due to surges that were about 5 to 8 feet above normal tide levels.
With Milton, forecasters warn of a possible 6- to 9-foot storm surge in Tampa Bay, and just south of there, from Anna Maria Island to Boca Grande, a surge of up to 13 feet.
In St. Petersburg, located on Tampa Bay, officials said residents should prepare for extended power outages and the possible shutdown of its sewage system. Mayor Ken Welch said it wasn't a storm that the area would recover from quickly: “We have a long road ahead of us.”
Milton is forecast to cross central Florida and dump as much as 18 inches of rain while heading toward the Atlantic Ocean, according to the hurricane center.
What if I have travel plans to Florida?
Airports, including Tampa International Airport and nearby St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, have shut down as the storm approaches.
And the tourism machine in Orlando, about 84 miles inland from Tampa, was grinding to a halt. Orlando International Airport — the nation’s seventh busiest and Florida’s most trafficked — ceased operations Wednesday. And at least three major theme parks — Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld — will close.https://www.nbcchicago.com/weather/hurricane-milton-live-cam-what-it-looks-like-as-major-storm-nears-landfall/3569119/st
What is the highest category for a hurricane?
Hurricane categories are based on what is known as the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
The rating categorizes hurricanes on a scale of 1 to 5 based on sustained wind speeds, according to the National Weather Service.
"This scale estimates potential property damage," the NWS reports. "Hurricanes reaching Category 3 and higher are considered major hurricanes because of their potential for significant loss of life and damage. Category 1 and 2 storms are still dangerous, however, and require preventative measures."
The wind speeds are calculated using a one-minute average.
Here's how they break down:
| Category One Hurricane Winds 74-95 mph. Very dangerous winds will produce some damage |
| Category Two Hurricane Winds 96-110 mph. Extremely dangerous winds will cause extensive damage |
| Category Three Hurricane Winds 111-129 mph. Devastating damage will occur |
| Category Four Hurricane Winds 130-156 mph. Catastrophic damage will occur |
| Category Five Hurricane Winds 157 mph or higher. Catastrophic damage will occur |
In a Category Five storm, "a high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse," according to the scale.
"Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months," the description states.
Is there a Category 6?
Earlier this year, some experts proposed adding a Category 6 to the ranking for storms with winds that exceed 192 miles per hour, though no such category has been officially created so far.
Several experts told The Associated Press they don't think that category is necessary. They said it could even give the wrong signal to the public because it's based on wind speed, while water is by far the deadliest killer in hurricanes.
See the latest list here.
What causes a hurricane?
Hurricanes often start as tropical waves that combine with warm ocean waters, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They may also be fueled by thunderstorms. The weather system moves west as warm ocean air rises into it, and that creates a low pressure area underneath it, NOAA said. Air rises and cools, and that forms clouds and thunderstorms.
Hurricanes have maximum sustained winds — the highest one-minute average wind speed at a particular point in time — of 74 mph (120 kph) or higher. If a tropical cyclone has maximum sustained winds between 39 and 73 mph (63 kph to 120 kph), it’s called a tropical storm. If maximum sustained winds are less than 39 mph (63 kph), it’s called a tropical depression.
Hurricanes typically occur during hurricane season, which in the Atlantic basin occurs each year from June 1 to Nov. 30.
