Hurricane Milton nears landfall in Florida, battering coast with 120-mph winds and storm surges: Live updates
Multiple confirmed tornados tore across southern Florida as ‘storm of the century’ approaches landfall in Sunshine State
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Florida residents in the path of Hurricane Milton were instructed to take shelter Wednesday ahead of the massive storm’s imminent landfall.
Milton brought destructive tornadoes, 28ft waves, strong winds, heavy rainfall, and storm surge, hours before it was expected to make landfall.
More than 545,000 customers were without power across the Sunshine State, according to outage tracker PowerOutage.US.
While Milton’s intensity continues to fluctuate, weakening to a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center predicts it will be “one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida”.
Federal and state officials have urged those in Milton’s path to evacuate to avoid “catastrophic” winds, up to 18in rainfall and up to 15ft of storm surge, before the major hurricane slams into Florida’s west-central coast.
Vice President Kamala Harris warned that even the toughest Floridians won’t weather the “historic” hurricane, she said on The Late Show on Tuesday night.
Sarasota Police Chief Rex Troche told CNN on Wednesday that officers will stay on the streets until Milton’s winds top 45mph.
“If people need help, we’re not going to be able to come to them,” he said.
Storm surge pours into Venice as Milton starts to makes landfall
Sarasota County Sheriff says Milton is a ‘unique’ storm
“This storm is really unique,” Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman spoke told NBC News on Wednesday night.
He said Milton has aspects of previous storms “rolled into one.”
'Catastrophic flash flooding' with threats to life, property expected around Tampa
The National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center warned of extreme rainfall from Tampa to the north-central Florida peninsula Wednesday, which is expected to result in “catastrophic flash flooding” with “considerable threats to life and property.
“6-hr rainfall totals of at least 5-8 inches with hourly rainfall in the 2-3 in/hr range are expected,” the agency said.
Portions of St. Petersburg to Bradenton have already picked up 5-8 inches of rain since midnight, and flash flooding is ongoing in those areas.
Hurricane Milton will make landfall in the next hour or two just south of Tampa Bay
Hurricane Milton was moving toward the east-northeast near 15mph Wednesday night.
On the forecast track, the center of the storm will make landfall just south of the Tampa Bay region within the next hour or two. After that, it will move across the central part of the Florida peninsula, and emerge off the east coast of Florida on Thursday.
More than 420K customers without power in Florida
More than 420K customers were without power in Florida Wednesday night, shortly before Hurricane Milton was expected to make landfall.
PowerOutage.US showed the majority of outages in Hernando County.
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