The earliest signs of Hurricane Milton’s coming gale-force winds and sheets of rain are now belting Florida as the eye of the storm barrels on toward its western coast.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has called Milton ‘dangerous’ and ‘catastrophic’ ― reporting that it’s maintaining its Category 5 status as it builds up to ‘devastating’ maximum sustained winds of 160 miles per hour (mph).
The eye of the storm is expected to hit Tampa late Wednesday just around midnight, based on forecast models from NHC and weather data visualization firm Ventusky.
But torrential downpours, as much as two inches per hour and up to 18 inches total, with flooding of all kinds expected as far inland as Orlando and even along Florida’s east coast cities like Daytona Beach and Palm Bay.
Weather-modelling company Ventusky is actively synthesizing meteorological data to follow and predict Hurricane Milton’s trajectory via their tracker, below.
‘Milton is forecast to remain a hurricane while it crosses the Florida Peninsula,’ NHC forecasters warned in a new report Wednesday morning.
‘Life-threatening hurricane-force winds, especially in gusts, are expected to spread inland across the peninsula,’ the advised.
‘Preparations to protect life and property, including being ready for long-duration power outages,’ NHC forecasters urged, ‘should be rushed to completion.’
Over one million people in coastal areas are under evacuation orders, causing panic and confusion in some areas, as residents fleeing to higher ground clogged roads and drained local gas stations dry.
The storm is currently on a collision course with the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, which as a population of roughly three million people.
But officials noted that the chaotic and turbulent eye of Hurricane Milton could still change course.
Milton could result in $60 billion in losses for the global insurance industry, according to a report from analysts at RBC Capital.
This billion-dollars in payouts loss would be similar to those made after Hurricane Ian, which hit Florida in 2022.
Ian was the second largest insured loss from a hurricane, according to an insurance report from Swiss Re Institute, following 2005’s Hurricane Katrina whose havoc nabbed it the top spot.
Barclays analysts this week estimated insured losses from the hurricane could exceed $50 billion.
Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall in Florida Wednesday evening. Millions of residents have been told to evacuate
But these figures will be most more viscerally felt on the ground as entire communities wade through the destruction left behind by Milton’s flooding and property-stripping, deadly winds.
The mayor of Sarasota, Florida, Liz Alpert, told reporters that her coastal city just south of Tampa Bay was as ready ‘as prepared as we can be.’
‘But this is going to be a really, really bad storm,’ she told MSNBC.
‘Emotionally for people to just have experienced that [Hurricane Helene] two weeks ago, and now here we are again,’ Alpert said, ‘it’s really hard on everybody.’
Florida residents seeking help are urged to call the State Assistance Information Line (SAIL) at 1-800-342-3557 and/or the FEMA Helpline at 1-800-621-3362.