Hurricane Milton makes landfall, slamming into Florida with destructive winds, catastrophic storm surge
Published October 9, 2024 8:34pm EDT | Updated October 10, 2024 12:09am ED
Hurricane Milton made landfall as a Category 3 storm with 120 mph winds on Wednesday near Siesta Key, Florida, slamming into the state's west coast before churning its way eastward.
The hurricane was later downgraded to a Category 2 storm and has since been downgraded to a Category 1 storm.
During an appearance on Fox Weather, St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson confirmed there have been 17 tornadoes along with several fatalities.
"We can confirm 17 tornadoes hit St. Lucie County, Florida, with multiple fatalities, a rescue mission ongoing, and hundreds of homes destroyed," he said.
The catastrophic landfall comes barely two weeks after Hurricane Helene, which battered Florida before causing devastation in North Carolina. Florida residents have spent the interim boarding up windows and evacuating their homes in preparation for Milton.
"Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida," the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday.
The storm is expected to pass over central Florida and into the Atlantic through Wednesday night and into Thursday morning.
As of 1 a.m. Thursday, power was out for more than 2 million customers, with roughly 300,000 customers losing power in one hour.
Milton poses a threat of a historically deep storm surge, as well as wind gusts well over 100 mph over the next 36 hours. Storm surge forecasts along the central western coast are predicting 10 to 15 feet of water topped with devastating waves driven by hurricane-force winds, according to FOX Weather.
"Yes, you might have ‘been through hurricanes before,'" FOX Weather Hurricane Specialist Bryan Norcross said. "But you weren't through the 1921 storm that put water over much of Pinellas County, or the 1848 hurricane that put 15 feet of Gulf water where downtown Tampa is today."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has activated thousands of National Guard members who are standing by to conduct search and rescue following the storm. President Biden's administration has also pre-deployed resources and hundreds of personnel.
Biden declared Florida a disaster area ahead of Milton's landfall to facilitate FEMA's preparations and response.