Wednesday live updates: Powerful Hurricane Milton closes in on storm-weary Gulf Coast

Tampa Bay residents are woke up Wednesday on the razor’s edge of a nightmare scenario as Hurricane Milton churns closer to the Gulf Coast.

As the potential area for landfall tonight or early Thursday narrows, storm-weary residents are bracing for the worst. Surge may reach up to 15 feet. Power could be out for weeks. The worst of Milton’s impacts could be decided by slight shift in its track.

The Tampa Bay region is under a hurricane warning and a storm surge warning. Pinellas and Pasco counties have issued mandatory evacuations for zones A, B and C and all mobile and manufactured homes. Hillsborough has ordered evacuations for residents in zones A and B and all mobile and manufactured homes.

Tropical-storm-force winds could reach the area as early as this afternoon. Time to evacuate is running out. Here is a list of shelters in the Tampa Bay area.

Check out Milton’s forecast track and wind speeds here.

And here’s how to hunker down if you’re not in a mandatory evacuation zone.

Follow along for the latest developments.

5 a.m. Milton a ‘catastrophic’ Category 5 storm

Milton was a “catastrophic” Category 5 storm with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center’s 5 a.m. advisory.

The storm was about 300 miles southwest of Tampa and expected to make landfall late tonight or early Thursday as a “dangerous” major hurricane bringing “devastating” hurricane-force winds to portions of the Gulf coast.

The Tampa Bay area remains in the cone of uncertainty. The peak storm surge forecast for the region remains up to 15 feet.

“If you are in the Storm Surge Warning area, this is an extremely life-threatening situation, and you should evacuate as soon as possible if ordered by local officials,” forecasters wrote.

Though the advisory shows the storm making landfall near Sarasota as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of about 130 mph, forecasters warned against focusing on the exact landfall point because the average error 24 hours out is about 40 miles.

Milton is expected to remain a hurricane as it cuts across the peninsula, and “life-threatening” winds are expected inland, especially in gusts.

Heavy rainfall through Thursday brings the risk of “catastrophic and life-threatening” flash flooding, with moderate to major river flooding as the storm moves east.

“There is an area of heavy rain beginning to spread across portions of southwestern and west-central Florida out ahead of Milton, and weather conditions will steadily deteriorate across portions of the Florida Gulf Coast throughout the day,” the advisory states.

• • •

Tampa Bay Times hurricane coverage 2024

5 things to know about the 2024 hurricane season, according to forecasters.

Forecasters predict ‘extremely active’ 2024 hurricane season. Here’s why.

Want to know what areas are flooding in Tampa Bay? Here’s where to look.

Checklists for building all kinds of storm kits.