Hurricane Milton strengthens into a Category 4. Florida prepares for evacuations and storm surge


Hurricane Milton strengthens into a Category 4. Florida prepares for evacuations and storm surge

BY JEFF MARTIN AND FREIDA FRISARO Updated 6:26 PM GMT+5, October 7, 2024 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Milton rapidly strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane Monday on a path toward Florida population centers including Tampa and Orlando, threatening a dangerous storm surge in Tampa Bay and setting the stage for potential mass evacuations less than two weeks after a catastrophic Hurricane Helene swamped the coastline. The storm is expected to stay at about its current strength for the next couple of days, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Helene was also a Category 4 at landfall in northern Florida. Milton had maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (240 kph) over the southern Gulf of Mexico, the hurricane center said. Its center could make landfall Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area, and it could remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean. That would largely spare other states ravaged by Helene, which killed at least 230 people on its path from northern Florida to the Appalachian Mountains. Milton’s center was about 150 miles (240 kilometers) west of Progreso, Mexico, and about 735 miles (1,185 kilometers) southwest of Tampa early Monday, moving east-southeast at 8 mph (13 kph), according to the hurricane center. Milton is a bit atypical since it formed so far west and is expected to cross the entire southern Gulf, according to Daniel Brown, a hurricane specialist at the center. “It’s not uncommon to get a hurricane threat in October along the west coast of Florida, but forming all the way in the southwest Gulf and then striking Florida is a little bit more unusual,” Brown said. Most storms that form in October and hit Florida come from the Caribbean, not the southwestern Gulf, he said. Forecasters warned of a possible 8- to 12-foot storm surge (2.4 to 3.6 meters) in Tampa Bay and said flash and river flooding could result from 5 to 10 inches (13 to 25 centimeters) of rain in mainland Florida and the Keys, with as much as 15 inches (38 centimeters) in places. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that while it remains to be seen where Milton will strike, it’s clear the state is going to be hit hard.