Hurricane Milton has made landfall on the west coast of Florida ON Wednesday night as a Category 3 storm.
Milton made landfall in Siesta Key, Florida, on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said. It is a barrier island off Sarasota with white-sand beaches and has about 5,500 residents. The community is about 70 miles (113 kilometers) south of Tampa. While the city did not take a direct hit, Hurricane Milton was still producing deadly storm surge and powerful winds in the area.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center considers official landfall to be when the exact center of a tropical cyclone meets a coastline. But that doesn’t mean it’s also when the storm’s strongest winds hit. “Because the strongest winds in a tropical cyclone are not located precisely at the center, it is possible for a cyclone’s strongest winds to be experienced over land even if landfall does not occur. Similarly, it is possible for a tropical cyclone to make landfall and have its strongest winds remain over the water,” the center says on its website.
Nearly 700,000 customers were without power in Florida early Wednesday night as hurricane Milton pummeled the state, according to PowerOutage.us .
Tampa Electric, Florida Power & Light Company and Duke Energy were reporting some of the largest outages as the hurricane made landfall about 68 miles (109 kilometers) south of Tampa.
Some power lines were taken down earlier in the day by tornadoes that formed in the rain band of the hurricane.
Many Florida energy companies warned customers in advance to prepare for outages caused by the storm. Duke Energy Florida said in a statement earlier Wednesday that it was staging resources along the outside of the hurricane’s projected path to respond to outages as soon as weather and other conditions allow.
There are more than 11.5 million power customers in Florida, according to PowerOutage.us.
Earlier in the day the NHC warned that storm surge in the Tampa Bay area could reach 8 to 10 feet above ground level. A stretch of Florida's west coast from Anna Maria Island down to Boca Grande, including Sarasota, was forecast to see peak surges between 10 and 15 feet.
"The deepest water will occur along the immediate coast near and to the south of the landfall location, where the surge will be accompanied by large and dangerous waves," NHC said in a Monday afternoon advisory . "Surge-related flooding depends on the relative timing of the surge and the tidal cycle, and can vary greatly over short distances."
At a Wednesday morning briefing Governor Ron DeSantis told residents they still had time to evacuate. “The roads and the interstates, they are flowing,” he said, but added that traffic conditions could deteriorate as the day goes on Wednesday.
DeSantis warned those 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.”
In anticipation of Milton's arrival, thousands have jammed Florida's highways trying to escape, but the window for evacuation is closing fast on Wednesday. Tampa's Mayor Jane Castor highlighted the severity of the situation, pointing out that the predicted storm surge of up to 15 feet could engulf entire homes.
Authorities have cautioned that those who choose to remain are on their own, as emergency services will not jeopardize their safety conducting rescues during the storm's peak.
Tampa Bay, with a population exceeding 3.3 million, is bracing for potential havoc, having dodged direct hits from major hurricanes for over 100 years.
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