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Date: October 07, 2024 at 09:21:13
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Hurricane Milton: 160mph/Cat 5-headed toward Florida |
URL: https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-milton-helene-florida-557c5c512135e0a8661b298e45e17c92 |
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Hurricane Milton strengthens into a Category 5 storm.
Florida orders evacuations
y MIKE SCHNEIDER
Updated 9:07 AM PDT, October 7, 2024
Milton rapidly strengthened into a Category 5
hurricane, the strongest level, in the Gulf of Mexico
on Monday on a path toward Florida, threatening a
dangerous storm surge in Tampa Bay and setting the
stage for potential mass evacuations less than two
weeks after a catastrophic Hurricane Helene swamped the
coastline.
Milton had maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (250
kph), the National Hurricane Center said. Its center
could come ashore Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area, and
it could remain a hurricane as it moves across central
Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean. That would largely
spare other states ravaged by Helene, which killed at
least 230 people on its path from Florida to the
Appalachian Mountains.
Milton rapidly strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico on
Monday and was forecast to become a Category 5 storm on
a path toward Florida, threatening a dangerous storm
surge in Tampa Bay and setting the stage for potential
mass evacuations less than two weeks after a
catastrophic Hurricane Helene swamped the coastline.
A hurricane warning was issued for parts of Mexico’s
Yucatan state, and much of Florida’s west coast was
under hurricane and storm surge watches. Florida’s Lake
Okeechobee, which often floods during intense storms,
was also under a hurricane watch.
“This is the real deal here with Milton,” Tampa Mayor
Jane Castor said at a news conference. “If you want to
take on Mother Nature, she wins 100% of the time.”
Milton was a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained
winds of 155 mph (250 kph) Monday morning over the
southern Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center
said. It was forecast to become a Category 5 storm
later Monday with winds greater than 157 mph (250 kph)
and become a large hurricane over the eastern Gulf.
Its center could come ashore Wednesday in the Tampa Bay
area, and it could remain a hurricane as it moves
across central Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean. That
would largely spare other states ravaged by Helene,
which killed at least 230 people on its path from
Florida to the Appalachian Mountains.
Forecasters warned of a possible 8- to 12-foot storm
surge (2.4 to 3.6 meters) in Tampa Bay and said flash
and river flooding could result from 5 to 10 inches (13
to 25 centimeters) of rain in mainland Florida and the
Keys, with as much as 15 inches (38 centimeters) in
places.
The Tampa Bay area is still cleaning up extensive
damage from Helene and its powerful surge. Twelve
people perished, with the worst damage along a 20-mile
(32-kilometer) string of barrier islands from St.
Petersburg to Clearwater.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday that it was
imperative that messes from Helene be cleared ahead of
Milton’s arrival so they don’t become dangerous flying
projectiles. More than 300 vehicles picked up debris
Sunday but encountered a locked landfill gate when they
tried to drop it off. State troopers used a rope tied
to a pickup truck and busted it open, DeSantis said.
“We don’t have time for bureaucracy and red tape,”
DeSantis said. “We have to get the job done.”
About 7 million people were urged to evacuate Florida
in 2017 as Hurricane Irma bore down. The exodus jammed
freeways, led to long lines at gas stations and left
evacuees in some cases vowing never to evacuate again.
Building on lessons learned during Irma and other
previous storms, Florida is staging emergency fuel for
gas vehicles and charging stations for electric
vehicles along evacuation routes, Kevin Guthrie,
executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency
Management, said Sunday.
“We are preparing ... for the largest evacuation that
we have seen, most likely since 2017, Hurricane Irma,”
Guthrie said.
Hillsborough County, home to Tampa, ordered evacuations
for areas adjacent to Tampa Bay and for all mobile and
manufactured homes by Tuesday night.
“Yes, this stinks. We know that, and it comes on the
heels of where a lot of us are still recovering from
Hurricane Helene,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said. “But
if you safeguard your families, you will be alive.”
If residents don’t evacuate, it could put first
responders in jeopardy or make rescues impossible: “If
you remain there, you could die and my men and women
could die trying to rescue you,” Hillsborough Fire
Rescue Chief Jason Dougherty said. “Help them by
leaving.”
Milton’s center was about 130 miles (210 kilometers)
west-northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and about 720 miles
(1,160 kilometers) southwest of Tampa late Monday
morning, moving east-southeast at 9 mph (15 kph),
according to the hurricane center.
DeSantis expanded his state of emergency declaration
Sunday to 51 counties and said Floridians should
prepare for more power outages and disruption, making
sure they have a week’s worth of food and water and are
ready to hit the road.
On beaches in the St. Pete Beach area, where Helene’s
storm surge flooded homes and businesses, lifeguards
removed beach chairs and other items Monday that could
become projectiles in hurricane winds. Schools
including the University of Central Florida in Orlando
announced they would close in the middle of the week,
and Walt Disney World said it was monitoring the
hurricane but operating normally for the time being.
All road tolls were suspended in western central
Florida. The St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport
said it would close after the last flight Tuesday, and
Tampa International Airport said it planned to halt
airline and cargo flights starting Tuesday morning.
All classes and school activities in Pinellas County,
home to St. Petersburg, closed preemptively Monday
through Wednesday, and schools were being converted
into shelters. Officials in Tampa freed all city
garages to residents hoping to protect their cars from
flooding, including electric vehicles. The vehicles
must be left on the third floor or higher in each
garage.
The coastal Mexican state of Yucatan announced it was
cancelling classes in most towns and cities along the
coast, after forecasters predicted Milton would brush
the northern part of the state. The cancellations
included its most heavily populated Gulf coast cities,
like Progreso; the capital, Merida; and the natural
protected area of Celestun, known for its flamingoes.
It has been two decades since so many storms
crisscrossed Florida in such a short period of time. In
2004, an unprecedented five storms struck Florida
within six weeks, including three hurricanes that
pummeled central Florida.
Although Tampa hasn’t been hit directly by a hurricane
in over a century, other parts of Florida’s Gulf Coast
are recovering from such storms in the past two years.
The Fort Myers area in southwest Florida is still
rebuilding from Hurricane Ian, which caused $112
billion in damage in 2022. Three hurricanes have
thrashed Florida’s Big Bend region in just 13 months,
including Helene.
Milton is a bit atypical since it formed so far west
and is expected to cross the entire southern Gulf,
according to Daniel Brown, a hurricane specialist at
the center.
“It’s not uncommon to get a hurricane threat in October
along the west coast of Florida, but forming all the
way in the southwest Gulf and then striking Florida is
a little bit more unusual,” Brown said. Most storms
that form in October and hit Florida come from the
Caribbean, not the southwestern Gulf, he said.
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[12243] [12244] [12245] |
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Date: October 07, 2024 at 15:32:09
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Hurricane Milton: 160mph/Cat 5-headed toward Florida |
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scary storm...winds 175 now...jumped almost 120 mph in one day!!! supposed to remain a hurricane all the way across florida and come back out in the atlantic as at least a cat 1...so the middle of florida is going to get hammered!
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Responses:
[12244] [12245] |
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12244 |
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Date: October 07, 2024 at 20:45:48
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Hurricane Milton: 160mph/Cat 5-headed toward Florida |
URL: https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4920887-why-experts-scared-hurricane-milton/ |
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Why experts are so scared of Hurricane Milton
by Tara Suter - 10/07/24 10:12 PM ET
The nation’s eyes are on Florida as Hurricane Milton seems poised to strike the state this week — nearly two weeks after experiencing the destruction of Hurricane Helene.
Residents of the Sunshine State are no strangers to hurricanes, but experts are sounding the alarm over Milton. The storm rapidly intensified into a Category 5 hurricane Monday, only one day after it officially became a hurricane, and “is expected to grow in size and remain an extremely dangerous hurricane when it approaches the west coast of Florida on Wednesday,” according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Here’s why experts are concerned about the storm.
Rapid intensification
The storm officially became a hurricane Sunday, according to the NHC, and on Monday, it had already intensified into a Category 5 hurricane. Rapid intensification, per the NHC, is when “the maximum sustained winds of a tropical cyclone” rise “at least 30 knots in a 24 hour period[.]” Thirty knots is equal to just below 35 miles per hour (mph).
“This is what rapid intensification looks like, going to sleep to a meh category 1 hurricane & waking up to a monster category 5 with 160 mph winds,” CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa said in a post on the social platform X Monday that featured maps with Milton.
“Truly mind-boggling & scary,” Raffa continued in her post. “This is the trend as our oceans continue to trap heat & fuel stronger storms.”
The science nonprofit Climate Central noted Milton’s rapid intensification in a thread on X Monday, stating that oceans rising in temperature “due to human-caused climate change, are fueling stronger tropical cyclones.”
“#Milton rapidly intensified over sea surface temperatures in the Western Gulf of Mexico, which have been made hundreds of times more likely to be anomalously warm due to climate change,” Climate Central said later in the thread.
A Florida meteorologist who recently got emotional when talking about the severity of Milton said that the Gulf of Mexico, where the storm is currently located, has waters that are “so incredibly hot.”
“You know what’s driving that, I don’t have to tell you … global warming, climate change leading to this and becoming an increasing threat,” John Morales said.
Risk of damage
The NHC said in a forecast discussion Monday that “Milton is expected to grow in size and remain an extremely dangerous hurricane when it approaches the west coast of Florida on Wednesday.”
“A large area of destructive storm surge will occur along parts of the west coast of Florida on Wednesday,” the agency continued. “This is an extremely life-threatening situation, and residents in those areas should follow advice given by local officials and evacuate immediately if told to do so.”
Beyond the storm surge, the NHC also said that possibly “devastating hurricane-force winds are expected along portions of the west coast of Florida where a Hurricane Warning is in effect” and that zones “of heavy rainfall will impact portions of Florida today well ahead of Milton, with heavy rainfall more directly related to the system expected later on Tuesday through Wednesday night.”
“This rainfall will bring the risk of considerable flash, urban, and areal flooding, along with the potential for moderate to major river flooding,” the agency continued.
Bryan Bennett, a Tampa-area meteorologist, said in a post on X Monday that Milton “COULD BE OUR KATRINA,” referencing the cataclysmic 2004 storm that caused mass destruction in New Orleans.
“Winds rotate counterclockwise around a hurricane,” Bennett said. “If the storm makes landfall in Pasco [County] or Pinellas [County], not only will it significantly flood [Clearwater] & St. Petersburg, but much of south Tampa, MacDill [Air Force Base], & downtown Tampa may go underwater.”
Bennett also said when the storm makes landfall, “winds are going to be sustained around 125, gusting to 155 mph,” adding that a wind speed at “150 mph wind is strong enough to take off a roof and damage exterior walls of a well built home.”
“I typically try to keep my message calm & low key,” Bennett said in his post. “But, the potential devastation that this storm may cause is the reason for my concern/worry for my home -Tampa Bay. That is also why I am pushing for so many people to please evacuate.”
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[12245] |
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Date: October 08, 2024 at 12:23:45
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Hurricane Milton: 160mph/Cat 5-headed toward Florida |
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This is a truly scary hurricane. Prayers going out to
those trying to get out of there. I hear the evacuations
are quite the mess right now. Millions trying to leave
all at once.
May God have mercy.
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Responses:
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Disasters ] [ Main Menu ] |