Hurricane Milton weakened overnight as it roared ever closer to Florida, but it is still poised to be one of the most devastating storms to hit the Tampa Bay area in more than 100 years.
Milton’s maximum sustained winds reached 180 mph late Monday, then declined to 155 mph as the storm blew past Cancun, Mexico. Now a Category 4 hurricane — swirling some 545 miles southwest of Tampa — Milton is expected to barrel into the Sunshine State Wednesday night, likely as a large Category 3 storm with windspeeds between 111 and 129 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
That means residents across the region have just over 24 hours to prepare before the monster storm’s impending arrival. For some, that means battening down; for thousands more, it means evacuating their homes and fleeing.
Kevin Guthrie, Florida’s emergency management director, has been urging those in in more vulnerable areas to leave since the start of the week.
“If your plan calls for you to evacuate, you should do so today,” he said.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor echoed the sentiment, issuing a grim warning to residents who choose to stay behind.
“I can say without any dramatization whatsoever,” she told CNN, “if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re gonna die.”
Rainfall amounts of 5 to 12 inches, with localized totals up to 18 inches, are expected across central to northern portions of the Florida Peninsula through Thursday, the NHC said Tuesday morning. Milton is additionally expected to dump 2 to 4 inches of rain across the Florida Keys through Thursday. The agency has also increased the peak storm surge forecast from 8-12 feet to 10-15 feet of inundation for the area from Anclote River to Tampa Bay
The heavy rainfall, combined with high storm surge, could create an especially dangerous situation, meteorologists warn. As a result, nearly 20 million people across Florida and more than 5 million others are under storm surge alerts.
The race to escape the super storm has sparked a mass exodus across Florida’s Gulf Coast, snarling traffic across parts of the Panhandle. The state’s Department of Transportation has since opened up the emergency shoulders on key interstates to better facilitate the amount of vehicles heading for safety. It has also come to coincide with crews’ mad dash to clear debris left by Hurricane Helene.
The storm walloped Florida just 12 days ago, ravaging parts of the same coastline currently in Milton’s crosshairs. More than 230 deaths so far have been linked to the storm, making it the deadliest to strike the United States since Hurricane Katrina.
Helene also knocked out power for millions across the South and flooded entire neighborhoods, leavings buildings and vehicles entirely submerged in water.
In the days since, Florida has deployed over 300 dump trucks that are working around the clock and have removed of 1,200 loads of debris.
A hurricane warning is in effect along much of the western Gulf Coast of Florida from Bonita Beach northward to the mouth of the Suwannee River, including Tampa Bay. These warnings also extend inland through central Florida, including Orlando.