Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday along Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm, bringing powerful winds, deadly storm surge and potential flooding to much of the state. Milton drew fuel from exceedingly warm Gulf of Mexico waters, twice reaching Category 5 status.
The cyclone had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (205 kph) as it roared ashore near Siesta Key in Sarasota County, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. The storm was bringing deadly storm surge to much of Florida’s Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas such as Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
Heavy rains were also likely to cause flooding inland along rivers and lakes as Milton traverses the Florida peninsula as a hurricane, eventually to emerge in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday.
Milton slammed into a Florida region still reeling from Hurricane Helene, which caused heavy damage to beach communities with storm surge and killed a dozen people in seaside Pinellas County alone.
Earlier, officials issued dire warnings to flee or face grim odds of survival.
“This is it, folks,” said Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, which sits on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay. “Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.”
Much of the area was seeing tornadoes by the afternoon — in fact, Florida broke its record for the most tornado warnings issued in a single day, NBC News reported. By 4:30 p.m., 111 warnings were generated by the National Weather Service, breaking the previous record set on Sept. 10, 2017, with 69 tornado warnings.
A tornado in St. Lucie caused structural damage to the sheriff’s office, Sheriff Keith Pearson said in a video posted on Facebook.
The video posted at 3:22 p.m. showed a heavily damaged building broken under twisted metal.
“A tornado just touched down and took out a 10,000-square-foot facility that we have behind us,” Pearson said, pointing in the video toward the building.
The Tampa Bay area was already experiencing dangerous flooding from Milton by late afternoon, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Up to 18 inches of rain is forecasted from Tampa to Orlando, with a high likelihood of significant inland flooding overnight.
Forecasters warn the immense and powerful storm could generate “life-threatening” storm surge of up to 15 feet in Tampa, a region that's particularly flood-prone. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor noted that would be deep enough to swallow an entire house.
“So if you’re in it, basically that’s the coffin that you’re in,” Castor said.
Millions were ordered or urged to evacuate and thousands of fleeing cars clogged Florida's highways ahead of the storm, but by Wednesday afternoon the National Weather Service said that time had run out.
"It’s time to shelter-in-place from #Milton. Tropical-storm force winds, flooding rains, and tornadoes are spreading inland across FL. Unless a life-threatening situation arises, stay indoors and follow updates," the NWS posted on X.
Officials have warned that anyone staying behind must fend for themselves, as first responders are not expected to risk their lives attempting rescues at the height of the storm.
With Milton targeting communities still reeling from Hurricane Helene, many residents who are hunkering down are concerned about the dangers posed by the piles of debris left in Helene's wake. State and local governments scrambled ahead of the storm to clear as much debris as possible to prevent the loose wreckage from becoming flying projectiles. Still, piles of soggy furniture, appliances and other trash remained.
"And that's going into everywhere, and going to be damaging homes more, knocking out windows, taking out cars, and I don't know who to call," Marie Deering, a resident in Apollo Beach, just 17 miles south of Tampa, told NBC News.
In St. Petersburg, Ariel Dalmau rode out Hurricane Helene but was evacuating for Milton. Dalmau told NBC affiliate WFLA in Tampa that he doesn’t want to be here to see what damage the debris does from not being picked up.
“All this garbage out here [is] going to be like a weapon for this hurricane,” Dalmau said.
One problem for Florida's western coastline is the region's topography. The state's coastline along the Gulf of Mexico isn’t very deep, and it features a gentle underwater slope, allowing Milton to more easily push water up the continental shelf, Cody Fritz, the Storm Surge Unit Team Lead at the National Hurricane Center told NBC News.
President Joe Biden, who postponed an overseas trip so he could remain at the White House to monitor Milton, spoke from Washington Wednesday afternoon and warned that it could be one of the most destructive hurricanes to hit Florida in more than a century.
In conversations earlier today, the heads of the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center warned of the hurricane's devastating potential, he said.
"No one should be confused," he said. “Milton still carries incredible destructiveness that can wipe out communities."
Biden has approved an emergency declaration for Florida, and U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor said 7,000 federal workers were mobilized to help in one of the largest mobilizations of federal personnel in history, The Associated Press reported.
“This is the real deal here with Milton,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said during a news conference. “If you want to take on Mother Nature, she wins 100% of the time."
In the Tampa Bay area's Gulfport, Christian Burke and his mother stayed put in their three-story concrete home overlooking the bay. Burke said his father designed this home with a Category 5 in mind — and now they’re going to test it.
As a passing police vehicle blared encouragement to evacuate, Burke acknowledged staying isn’t a good idea but said he’s “not laughing at this storm one bit” — he just believes the house his father built will withstand it.
Some 1,700 people hunkered down at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, including Trokon Nagbe and his husband, Morris Kulp. They slept on the floor because they didn't bring their own cots.
"It’s not the Hilton or the Marriott,” Kulp said, “but it sure is appreciated.”
