Where is Milton now? What NJ needs to know about storm’s path

Hurricane Milton roared across the state of Florida last night, wreaking havoc and devastation from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Coast.

Milton came ashore near Siesta Key in Sarasota County as a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday evening, spawning tornados, flooding, storm surge and damaging winds before exiting the state near Cape Canaveral as a Category 1 hurricane.

The storm's path of destruction flooded neighborhoods, destroyed homes and businesses, ripping the roof off Tropicana Field and leaving millions without power. It will continue to have impacts Thursday morning as the monster storm is tracking away from Florida's east coast.

Where is Hurricane Milton now?

According to the National Hurricane Center , Milton's center was pulling away from the East Coast of Florida, about 75 miles from Cape Canaveral with sustained winds of 85 mph and higher gusts. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles from its center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 205 miles.

Milton is moving toward the east-northeast near 18 mph and is expected to continue in that direction, passing north of the Bahamas today.

Additional rainfall amounts of 2-4 inches are expected, with storm surge warnings along the Florida's coast up through the Georgia and South Carolina coast lines.

Damaging hurricane-force winds and gusts are expected to continue for a few more hours in east-central and northeastern Florida, as heavy rainfall continues to bring risk of considerable flash and urban flooding.

Will Milton impact New Jersey?

Milton is moving off the Florida East Coast and is expected to gradually weaken into a powerful extratropical low tonight well off the southeast U.S. coast.

Forecast models predict Milton will continue to push east off the coast, into the Atlantic Ocean. None of the models put New Jersey in play for storm remnants at this point.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Where is Milton now? What NJ needs to know about storm’s path