Hurricane Milton’s triple threat

In the span of one day, a Category 1 hurricane headed for western Florida escalated to the highest intensity there is: Category 5.
Since then, the predicted wind intensity for Hurricane Milton has ebbed and flowed ahead of its expected landfall in Florida on Wednesday.
But for now, experts are calling it an ”
.”
“This has the potential to be a type of storm not only that presents danger right now — not only can have serious damage — but also can have kind of that indelible mark on a community,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in a press conference on Tuesday.
More than a million people have been ordered to evacuate from Florida’s west coast. And for those who choose not to go, there is a grim message from Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody:
“You probably need to write your name in permanent marker on your arm so that people know who you are when they get to you afterwards.”
This could be the first time in more than a century that the Tampa Bay area has been in the direct path of a major hurricane.
Austen Flannery, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Tampa Bay office, breaks down three of the dangers.
This is the most critical, life-threatening situation for coastal communities, Flannery told
. He said there is a chance of storm surge reaching up to 15 feet:
Flannery said the hurricane-force wind field is also going to be very large and likely to continue inland:
As of 2 p.m. ET Tuesday, Flannery said the forecast was for five to 12 inches of rain along the track of the hurricane, with isolated totals as high as 18 inches:
Ultimately, the impact of Hurricane Milton isn’t expected to change much, Flannery said, it’s just a question of where exactly it makes landfall and who gets hit hardest.
“The reality is, the science is only as good as the science is, and there’s still some degree of uncertainty,” he said. “So not everyone will see the worst the storm has to throw at them, but everyone should be preparing for that.”
On a personal note, Flannery said he has lived in the area his whole life and is experiencing the same exhaustion as others who have just lived through Hurricane Helene.
“I think we all would love to just see Milton go away, to disappear, to no longer be. But unfortunately, that’s not what the forecast is at this point,” he said.
“An important part of being able to get through these storms as they come like this, is being prepared in the first place, to having a plan, to knowing that you’re not going through it alone, and that there are many others that are going through it with you and that there will be people to help and support all of us as our community comes back to be.”