Floridians prepare for Hurricane Milton’s impact. The Category 4 storm will make landfall Wednesday

Hurricane Milton weakened slightly Wednesday morning to a Category 4 after briefly regaining strength to a Category 5 storm Tuesday afternoon.

According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Milton was about 190 miles southwest of Tampa and had winds of 130 mph as of Wednesday afternoon. It is expected to hit Florida as an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 when it reaches the Gulf Coast Wednesday night.

"On the forecast track, the center of Milton will make landfall along the west-central coast of Florida tonight, cross the Florida peninsula overnight and early Thursday, and move off the east coast of Florida over the western Atlantic Ocean on Thursday," the NHC stated.

Landfall is now projected just south of Tampa near Sarasota with the area expected to experience wind gusts of over 100 mph.

Forecasters warned of a possible 10- to 15-foot storm surge in Tampa Bay. It is the highest surge ever predicted for that location and has led to evacuation orders for communities all along the coast.

Milton’s outer rainbands had already reached Florida and were expected to dump as much as 18 inches of rain while heading toward the Atlantic Ocean, the NHC said.

The National Weather Service on Wednesday morning issued a tornado watch, which includes a vast part of Florida, including the Tampa area, the Florida Keys and Miami-Dade County.

https://katu.com/news/nation-world/tampa-tornadoes-and-traffic-life-threatening-hurricane-milton-approaches-florida-national-hurricane-center-space-center-strong-winds-storm-surge-flooding-evacuations-gulf-coast-atlantic-ocean-tornadoes-governor-ron-desantis-national-guard-rescue

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Author: KATU News
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News post in at: October 10, 2024, 3:03 am.

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