Hurricane Milton roars toward Florida as a Category 3 storm
A mighty Hurricane Milton is flinging rain and winds at the Tampa Bay area Wednesday on its steady and potentially catastrophic march toward the west coast of Florida, where officials sounded urgent warnings for residents to evacuate or face grim odds of survival.
KEY POINTS TO NOTE:
—Landfall: It’s not certain where Milton’s centre will come ashore Wednesday night because the storm’s path might “wobble,” forecasters say, but the entire Tampa Bay region and points south are at grave risk.
—Tornadoes: Apparent tornadoes touched down Wednesday in the Everglades and Fort Myers. Forecasters warn more could appear across central and southern Florida.
—Evacuations: Authorities have issued mandatory evacuation orders across 11 Florida counties with a population of about 5.9 million people and warned that anyone staying behind must fend for themselves.
The following are the latest updates from The Associated Press over the past couple of hours…
Hurricane Milton is downgraded to Category 3 but still a grave threat to Florida
By The Associated Press
Milton was downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday but remained a major storm and a grave threat as it closed in on Florida’s west coast, where officials sounded urgent warnings for residents to flee inland or face grim odds of surviving the storm’s surge.
Steady rain fell and winds gusted as Milton drew closer to the Tampa Bay region, which is home to more than 3.3 million people and hasn’t seen a direct hit from a major hurricane in more than a century.
Milton has fluctuated in strength as it approached, but regardless of the distinction in wind speeds, the National Hurricane Center said it would be a major and extremely dangerous storm when its centre makes landfall late Wednesday.
Milton was centred about 100 miles (155 kilometres) southwest of Tampa with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph), the Center reported.
In Cuba, Milton is causing flooding in low-lying areas
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
On Havana’s Malecón and Avenida del Puerto, some people were watching the force of the sea as the low-lying area began flooding, even though they knew the hurricane was far from Cuba.
“This is something very big. It draws my attention,” Jorge Taylor, a 57-year-old builder who was passing by the Malecón and was surprised by a wave that hit his arm, told The Associated Press at midday Wednesday. “This could get much more dangerous.”
Some young people were even playing with the waves that were jumping on the Malecón.
A kilometre inland from Havana Bay, fisherman Carlos Batalla, 61, didn’t stop his fishing work, taking advantage of the fact that the rains had stopped, but he warned that it looked “ugly” towards the sea because his colleagues had tied up the small boats from which they usually catch the fish.
Tropical storm-force winds from Hurricane Milton begin lashing Florida
By The Associated Press
Tropical storm-force winds have begun lashing the western coast of Florida as Hurricane Milton draws closer, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory Wednesday afternoon.
Officials said at 3 p.m. that the Category 4 storm’s center was 120 miles (193 kilometres) southwest of Tampa and 110 miles (177 kilometres) west of Fort Myers. It had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (209 kph).
The storm is expected to make landfall Wednesday night.
As Milton approaches, storm watchers are also concerned about another system that could form
By PATRICK WHITTLE
Storm watchers preparing for Hurricane Milton were also concerned about the possibility of a future storm, as the National Hurricane Center said it was monitoring another system that could form in the Atlantic.
But that storm system, which was located about 300 miles (482 kilometres) west-southwest of Bermuda on Wednesday afternoon, hasn’t been given a name yet and the chance of it forming a cyclone over the next 48 hours was “low,” the center said.
“Environmental conditions are becoming less favourable for tropical or subtropical development today,” the center said in its statement.
Still, the possible formation of another hurricane brought anxiety to residents already fatigued by the quick succession of Helene and Milton. Milton was the 13th named storm of the hurricane season, and the next hurricane could be called Hurricane Nadine.
NOAA forecast 17 to 25 named storms for this year. That would constitute an above normal hurricane season.
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