Florida‘s Gulf Coast is braced for the “potentially catastrophic” impact of Hurricane Milton, with near-record winds and significant storm surges set to bring further destruction to areas of a state still reeling from the impact of Helene less than two weeks ago.
The storm, which rapidly strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane overnight, is forecast to make landfall in Tampa Bay – a region which has not endured a direct hit by a major hurricane in more than a century – on Wednesday evening and has sparked the state’s largest evacuation effort in years.
Though it is expected to weaken slightly before reaching the US, the hurricane could still grow in size, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warning at a press conference on Monday afternoon: “We have to assume [Hurricane Milton] is going to be a monster.”
As Milton crept along the northern edge of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, toward the Sunshine State, with 180mph (285kph) winds early Tuesday, nearly the entirety of Florida’s west coast was under a hurricane warning.
The National Hurricane Centre warned torrential rain and flash flooding could be expected across parts of Florida from late Monday, with life-threatening storm surges and destructive winds along stretches of the state’s west coast possible from late Tuesday or early Wednesday.
Like the rest of the state, the Tampa Bay area is still rebounding after Hurricane Helene – the deadliest mainland storm since 2005’s Katrina – pummelled the south-east of the US late last month, killing at least 230 people and leaving hundreds more missing as it swept from Florida through Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia, up to the Appalachian Mountains.
Tampa Bay, in central Florida, has not been hit directly by a major hurricane since 1921, but authorities fear luck is about to run out for the region and its 3.3 million residents.
President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Florida, and Congresswoman Kathy Castor said 7,000 federal workers were mobilised to help, marking one of the largest mobilisations of federal personnel in history.
“This is the real deal here with Milton,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor told a Monday news conference. “If you want to take on Mother Nature, she wins 100 per cent of the time.”
Fuelled by warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Milton became the third-fastest intensifying storm on record in the Atlantic Ocean, the Hurricane Centre said, as it surged from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in less than 24 hours.
The strongest Atlantic hurricane on record is 1980’s Allen, which reached wind speeds of 190mph (306kph) as it moved through the Caribbean and Gulf before striking Texas and Mexico.
Forecasters warned that Milton is expected to bring a large storm surge of between eight and 12 feet (2.4-3.6 metres), with surges of 10 to 15 feet (3-4.5 metres) possible along a stretch of coastline north and south of Tampa Bay, leading to the widespread evacuation orders on Monday that saw a steady stream of vehicles headed north toward the Florida Panhandle on Interstate 75.
Traffic also clogged the southbound lanes of the major highway for miles as other residents headed for the relative safety of Fort Lauderdale and Miami on the opposite side of the state.
Airports in both Tampa and Orlando announced they would be suspending flight operations from Tuesday due to the storm.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) spokesperson Keith Turi said he was “encouraged by the amount of evacuation that’s going on right now” after similar warnings weren’t heeded by some residents during Helene a fortnight ago and Hurricane Ian in 2022, adding: “This is actually a good sign.”
