Hurricane Milton strengthened to Category 5 status in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday afternoon, threatening disastrous winds and storm surge to the Tampa Bay area and the west coast of Florida, officials said.
With winds reaching up to 180 mph, the storm is expected to grow in size but weaken to a Category 3 before making landfall Wednesday evening. Evacuation orders were issued in 13 Florida counties, urging residents, especially those in low-lying areas or in mobile homes, to leave by Tuesday. The National Weather Service suggested residents who live outside of the storm surge area but plan to stay should gather supplies and plan for at least a week without power or water.
“Bottom line: If Milton stays on its course this will be the most powerful hurricane to hit Tampa Bay in over 100 years. No one in the area has ever experienced a hurricane this strong before,” the weather service wrote just before 2 p.m. EDT Monday.
The storm was moving at around 10 mph toward Florida, around 650 miles away from Tampa as of 8 p.m. EDT.
“I apologize, this is just horrific,” John Morales, a broadcaster for NBC6 South Florida said on air, becoming emotional while discussing the storm’s rapid intensification. “You know what’s driving that. I don’t need to tell you: global warming, climate change [are] leading to this.”
Residents in the region are still cleaning up two weeks after Hurricane Helene made landfall 150 miles north of Tampa Bay in the Big Bend area of the state and continued north to wreak devastation in the southern Appalachians, killing 230. Leftover debris from Helene needs to be cleared so that it will not become projectiles when Milton hits, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday.
Helene, with an indirect hit, brought storm surges of five to eight feet to Tampa Bay. But Milton may be the first direct hit to the bay in more than a century, and brings with it a record forecast of eight to 12 feet of storm surge.
The storm’s initial path is reminiscent of Hurricane Irma in 2017, where a slight shift “threaded the needle” between major cities after causing “the largest evacuation in Florida’s history,” the Tampa Bay Times reported. Irma still devastated the Florida Keys but caused far less damage than initially predicted. The memory left some Tampa Bay residents less inclined to evacuate, the Associated Press reported, although west-central Florida tolls were suspended and highway left shoulders opened for motorists evacuating.
“This is an extremely life-threatening situation and residents in [west coastal Florida] should follow advice given by local officials and evacuate immediately if told to do so,” the weather service’s National Hurricane Center in Miami wrote in its 4 p.m. EDT update Monday. “Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida.”
