Hurricane Milton live: ‘Storm of the century’ expected to make landfall in Florida

A Texas mayor suggested an unusual remedy to stop Hurricane Milton ahead of it making landfall: by nuking it.

Bobby Lindamood, the mayor of Colleyville, took to Facebook to share the bizarre idea with his network.

“For the amount of destruction the next hurricane is bringing, it’s time to throw a simi nu/ke bo//mb  (minus the radiation) at this dude and see if we can stop the rotation. It may save more than it can hurt,” he wrote on Facebook.

“Just casting thoughts and ideas. This gonna be bad,” he wrote on Facebook.

According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, that won’t work.

Hurricanes generate far more energy than even the biggest nuclear bombs, the NOAA said. In fact, a fully developed hurricane releases energy equal to a 10-megaton bomb every 20 minutes. So, even a nuclear explosion would barely make a dent in the storm’s power.

Worse, the radioactive fallout could be carried by the winds, spreading contamination over a huge area.

Lindamood told The Independent that his insights were simply an “expression of deep concern” for those in Milton’s path.

“After seeing the mass destruction caused by the Helene hurricane, my heart goes out to all the people that may be impacted by one of the largest hurricanes in history,” he said.

“My post was simply an expression of deep concern for Florida and surrounding states who will be impacted. My comments were meant to convey a desire to use all available resources to protect American citizens not a literal suggestion.”

A Florida resident has revealed the reason he’s chosen not to evacuate, despite a mandatory order issued to his county.

Millions of Floridians have been issued evacuation orders ahead of Hurricane Milton’s anticipated landfall on Wednesday evening on the state’s west-central coast. The storm will then move to the east coast over the Atlantic Ocean by Thursday afternoon.

Dave Carol of Vilano Beach, St Johns County, has decided to stay put – despite a mandatory evacuation order being issued to the county.

“We’re hurricane chasers!” Dave Carroll told Action News Jax.

“And being originally from Fort Lauderdale, we know. It’s just Asheville, they’re not prepped for that. This area is prepped for it, and so I think it’ll be, the main thing is the flooding.”

He added: “Our house has never flooded here and we’re not in a flood zone.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared that there “will be fatalities” after the monster Hurricane Milton slams into the state’s west coast on Wednesday evening.

“It is going to bring a lot of ferocity, a lot of hazards, damage. You still have time to make decisions to ensure your safety,” he said.

“Just know if you get 10ft of storm surge, you can’t just hunker down with that. Mother nature is going to win that fight.”

He later added: “Unfortunately there will be fatalities when you have storm surge that will be 10ft.”

The governor has now ended his press briefing.

The Florida governor declared that almost 170,000 spaces are still available in hurricane shelters across the state.

Admitting the shelters are “not the Four Seasons,” DeSantis said that only 31,000 individuals had registered to stay at the facilities. The total capacity of the state’s shelters is approximately 200,000, the governor said.

“There is space available in these shelters,” DeSantis said. “You may be able to get in your car and travel 10 miles to ride the storm out.”

Kevin Guthrie, the Executive Director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, confirmed that there is space for “well over 200,000 in the impact area… There is room”.

You can find a full list of shelters here.

Ron DeSantis said that Storm Milton will demand the largest deployment of linesmen and utility workers in America’s history, with mass power outages expected across parts of Florida.

More than 50,000 linesman have been brought in from as far away as California in preparation of Milton making landfall this evening on the west coast, the Florida governor said.