Hurricane Milton restrengthens into a Category 5 storm as it barrels toward Florida

It is well documented that the Tampa Bay area is extremely vulnerable to hurricanes and that the region has also dodged major hurricanes over the last century.

It is far too early for residents around Tampa Bay to breathe a sigh of relief, but Hurricane Milton wobbled farther south than expected Tuesday, leading to a southern shift in the forecast from the National Hurricane Center.

Meteorologists usually stress not to focus on the exact track and to not even focus on the cone, because significant impacts always occur outside of the cone. In fact, the cone from the National Hurricane Center is only designed to capture the path of the storm two-thirds of the time. That means that one in three times the storm’s track falls outside of the cone. However, that exact track is very important when it comes to the details of the impacts.

The worst storm surge in Hurricane Milton is forecast to be near the landfall point and to the south, based on the angle it is approaching the coast. If the current trajectories showing a path toward Sarasota hold true, the worst storm surge would be into places like Sarasota, Venice and southward into surge-vulnerable places like Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda. On the northern side of the storm, winds across Tampa Bay would largely push water out of the bay, potentially even reducing the water levels as happened during Hurricane Ian, which made landfall near Fort Myers in 2022.

This current trajectory is only about 40 miles south of Tampa or 20 miles south of the mouth of Tampa Bay and the NHC warns that uncertainty remains and additional wobbles – north or south – are possible.  It is also very important to note that Tampa is still within the cone of uncertainty.

Even with a potential track south of Tampa, which would spare that area the worst of the surge, there is still a significant risk of catastrophic hurricane-force winds and flooding rain. Hurricane Milton is expected to grow into a large storm as it approaches landfall, and much of the Florida Peninsula will experience the wrath of the storm.

The Cinderella Castle is seen at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, on July 14, 2023.

Hurricane Milton is prompting closure of some of Florida’s biggest and most beloved tourist attractions, including all four of the main theme parks at Walt Disney World Resort. Though located southwest of Orlando in inland Florida, Milton’s expected path across central Florida is forcing the resort to make a rare weather-related closure.

Walt Disney World will close its theme parks in stages beginning at 1 p.m. ET Wednesday, the company said on its website.

Here’s the status of other Florida attractions:

Read more on amusement park closures in Florida.

Veteran Florida meteorologist John Morales said there were a lot of thoughts going through his head when he started tearing up while reporting on the rapidly intensifying Hurricane Milton on Monday.

A video of Morales getting emotional while reporting on Hurricane Milton’s strength and magnitude for WTVJ went viral on Monday.

“It’s just an incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane,” Morales said in the video. “I apologize, this is just horrific,” he later added.

Morales is the longest-serving meteorologist in south Florida. He has guided the community through several other major, devastating hurricanes and said he became to be known as the “non-alarmist, just facts meteorologist.”

But, a lot has changed in the several decades since he started this job. Morales said the new age of more intense storms because of the climate crisis has changed him.

“These symptoms of the changing climate has changed me from a cool cucumber to somebody that’s certainly more agitated and in a bit of dismay about what’s going on,” he said.

As the planet warms, hurricanes are morphing into something more dangerous — intensifying faster, producing more rainfall and generating bigger storm surge. In fact, human-caused climate change over the past two weeks made the at- or near-record-breaking ocean temperatures that fueled Milton’s explosion 400 to 800 times more likely, according to the nonprofit research group Climate Central.

“That’s what climate change can do. It impacts disproportionately people in frontline communities that really have very little to do with burning fossil fuels,” Morales said.

The death toll from Helene has risen to at least 236 across six states, according to CNN’s tally, after one additional death was announced Tuesday in Tennessee.

Helene is the second deadliest hurricane to strike the US mainland in the past 50 years, following Hurricane Katrina, which killed at least 1,833 people in 2005.

Here’s a breakdown of deaths from Helene by state:

Drone video shows remnants of furniture and other debris strewn about Treasure Island in Florida’s Pinellas County — reminders of Hurricane Helene, which struck Florida less than two weeks ago. Now, residents are preparing for the onslaught of another storm.

The damage left behind is visible, as trash piles, some as tall as 6 feet, line block after block of the city.

Everything from appliances to sheet metal and cinder blocks was left behind from Hurricane Helene. One massive pile of trash sits near City Hall.

It’s why officials are urging residents to get out before Hurricane Milton makes landfall, even broadcasting evacuation notices on loudspeakers.

Watch the footage:

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By Laura Oliverio, CNN

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Updated 9:15 PM EDT, Tue October 8, 2024

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Drone video shows piles of debris left over from Hurricane Helene

02:16 - Source: CNN

Orange County, Florida, is expecting around 10 to 15 inches of rain in the western portion of the county due to Hurricane Milton, officials said Tuesday.

Orange County is home to Orlando, location to theme parks like Disney World and Universal Studios. They are mostly within the western half of the county.

The eastern half of the county is expecting 8 to 10 inches of rain, and localized flooding is expected throughout the area, said Danny Banks, public safety director.

While a heavy amount of rain and wind are expected, the county is “well-prepared at this point in time,” Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings said.

Hurricane Milton is seen in a satellite photo on Tuesday, October 8.

Hurricane Milton is advancing toward Florida, where it could be one of the most destructive storms on record, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The storm on Tuesday strengthened back into a Category 5 hurricane, NHC said, but is forecast to weaken to Category 3 ahead of its landfall somewhere on Florida’s Central Gulf Coast.

Officials are warning Floridians to heed warnings and remain vigilant.

Here’s what we know about the storm so far:

Storm strength:

Storm threats, location and timing:

Evacuations:

Localities and businesses prepare for Milton:

What the governor is saying: 

A person rides their bike through a flooded street in the rain as Hurricane Milton passes off the coast of Progreso, Yucatan state, Mexico, on October 8.

Hurricane Milton brushed Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Monday night and Tuesday morning, leaving behind flooded roads, damaged docks and fallen trees as it now moves away and heads towards Florida.

No deaths have been reported, according to the country’s civil protection coordinator Laura Velazquez.

According to Mexico’s Civil Protection, nearly 40% of the state of Yucatan’s population has been impacted by power outages due to the storm.

Video captured by CNN in the port city of Progreso shows palm trees ripped from the roots, damaged docks, and overturned boats.

Locals and tourists in parts of the Yucatan and Quintana Roo states were evacuated and placed in shelters until weather conditions improved.

“Honestly, I was undecided about evacuating, I had to think about my belongings but at the end of the day I did it for my children,” one woman who is temporarily housing in a Yucatan shelter told CNN.

Intense rain is expected to continue in several areas near Mexico’s Caribbean coast with winds reaching up to 120 miles per hour, according to Mexico’s weather agency Conagua.

Sigue nuestra cobertura del huracán Milton en español.

Randi Kaye reports in Sarasota, Florida showing the debris from Hurricane Helene, on October 8.

Dressers, mattresses and even refrigerators are piled high on the side of streets in Sarasota, Florida.

The mounds of wreckage of people’s homes are a product of Hurricane Helene, a deadly and powerful storm that hit the state less than two weeks ago. City officials told CNN earlier Tuesday that they are rushing now to get it cleared off the street before another massive storm, Hurricane Milton, is expected to make a direct hit on Sarasota.

Having this kind of debris out on the streets can be dangerous when Milton makes landfall. Officials are concerned it will float through the city in the floodwaters or become projectiles that hit other homes or even people.

One woman who lives in Siesta Key, an island off Sarasota, told CNN’s Randi Kaye that she and her husband lost all of their belongings in Hurricane Helene and will have to gut their home because there is mold in the walls. KT Curran said Five-foot storm surge flooded their property and forced her husband, who was there riding out the storm, to sit on top of the neighbor’s house.

Now, with another storm aimed at her already battered community, Curran told CNN she is riding out Milton in a friend’s ninth-floor condo.

“It feels like maybe Helene was just a rehearsal for what’s to come,” she said. “None of us in 100 years have seen anything like this. It is shocking.”

Sydney Sultenfuss is a fifth-generation Floridian whose family’s legacy was built into the landscape of Davis Islands, a community just off the coast of Tampa.

Two weeks ago, she said, Hurricane Helene hit and took nearly everything she had.

The scariest part, she added, was Helene made landfall nearly 200 miles away. Now, with Milton, Tampa residents are bracing for a more direct hit.

“Milton feels very different – and I had a really bad feeling about Helene,” she said. “Now it’s just, ‘Here we go again.’ It all feels like a bad dream because we haven’t even been able to process what just happened two weeks ago.”

Sultenfuss plans to weather the hurricane with her parents who live at a higher elevation, further inland. She said she never wanted to leave Davis Islands, but now she’s changing her mind.

“We don’t even know what we’re going to come back to after Milton,” she said.

A Waffle House restaurant in Miami Gardens, Florida, is pictured on July 30, 2024.

Dozens of Waffle House locations are closed around Tampa and Fort Myers, Florida, ahead of Hurricane Milton.

The closures are as of 2 p.m. on Tuesday, the chain said in a post on X. The storm is expected to make landfall on Florida’s Central Gulf Coast on Wednesday evening. It could be one of the most destructive storms on record, forecasters say.

Why this is a big deal: If the Waffle House closes, it means the storm is getting serious. The Waffle House Index is even an unofficial measure by a former FEMA official to evaluate how severely a storm hit an area.

Waffle House has a reputation of staying open during natural disasters, even when other restaurants are closed. The index uses a color-coded key to evaluate the degree of damage done to an area and what resources the area will need, based on the Waffle House schedule.

🔴 Red: Waffle House is closed completely. If Waffle House is closed, that area was probably hardest hit.

🟡 Yellow: Waffle House is open, but they’re serving a limited menu. This could mean the area is experiencing power outages or water isn’t safe to drink, but people can get around.

🟢 Green: Waffle House is up and running at peak condition. This doesn’t mean everything’s perfect in the area, but it’s a sign that basic services are intact.

CNN’s Ramishah Maruf contributed reporting to this post.

Police officers in Pinellas County, which includes Treasure Island, is patrolling the area and broadcasting evacuation notices on loudspeaker ahead of Hurricane Milton, according to city officials.

In a video posted to X, Treasure Island posted a video showing a police officer driving around the island with the message blasting repeatedly from the patrol car.

Zones A, B and C in Pinellas County have been ordered to evacuate ahead of the hurricane.

“TIPD is patrolling the island, letting residents and businesses know it’s time to evacuate. It looks as if many are taking the evacuation orders seriously,” Treasure Island post read on X.

An apartment complex is seen before Hurricane Milton's expected landfall in St. Petersburg, Florida, on October 8.

Milton is once again a rare Category 5 hurricane according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center. The storm is 480 miles southwest of Tampa, Florida with sustained winds of 165 mph and is moving east-northeast at 9 mph.

Milton first became a Category 5 hurricane on Monday at 11 a.m. ET and maintained Category 5 strength until 2 a.m. Tuesday.

The storm’s strength is expected to fluctuate over the next 36 hours, and it will weaken slightly to a much larger Category 3 hurricane before landfall on the west coast of Florida.

Including Milton, only 42 hurricanes have gotten this powerful in the Atlantic on record, according to data from NOAA. Before this season, only two Category 5 hurricanes roamed the basin in the 2020s: 2022’s Ian and 2023’s Lee.

The National Weather Service in Tampa Bay is trying to show Florida residents exactly why Hurricane Milton could be so dangerous.

The storm, which is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, is forecasted to bring “historic life-threatening storm surge” to parts of central Florida — higher than the storm surges from Hurricane Helene, the NWS said.

On a long ruler against its building, the NWS marked the average seven-foot storm surge from Helene and the 10-foot forecasted storm surge for Milton.

The storm surge forecast for Hurricane Milton is about as high as most ceilings, the NWS meteorologist said in the video posted to X.

But the waters could get even higher: The NWS said other areas are expected to get 10 to 15 feet of storm surge. That is nearly up to the roof of the NWS video in the building.

Watch:

The Biden Administration is putting airlines on notice, warning them not to hike prices on those trying fly out of the path of Hurricane Milton.

The Department of Transportation says it has “been in touch with airlines to get more information about the capacity and affordability of flights in the affected areas.”

This week, screenshots began circulating on social media of flights from Florida topping $1,600 – though airlines argue that some itineraries shown were not realistic with numerous connections.

During an event Tuesday, President Joe Biden said airlines must be “on the level.”

“The Department takes all allegations of airline price-gouging seriously,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg posted on X. “We are keeping a close eye on flights in and out of areas affected by Hurricane Milton to make sure airlines are not charging excessively increasing fares.”

United Airlines spokesperson Leslie Scott told CNN that the airline capped fares on flights from airports in Milton’s path — a list that expanded Tuesday — to all seven of the airline’s hubs such as Chicago O’Hare and Newark. Scott says the one-way average economy fare for those flights over the last 72 hours was under $500.

American Airlines spokesperson Sarah Jantz says the airline “proactively capped fares on direct flights out of the cities covered by our travel alert.”

Both American Airlines and United Airlines added additional flights to and from Florida on Tuesday. They say their expanded schedules helped move more than 2,000 passengers out of Milton’s path.

Industry lobby Airlines for America said “carriers are working diligently to accommodate customers impacted by Hurricane Milton.” In a statement it said “several carriers are allowing flexible rebooking options to and from airports that may be affected by the storm, allowing passengers to adjust their travel plans if needed.”

Officials in Clearwater, Florida, are preparing for Hurricane Milton ahead of the storm’s imminent landfall

Traffic signal boxes there are being removed “to prevent damage during the storm” and lift stations are being taken offline in certain areas “to preserve them for post storm use,” according to an update from the city.

Also, potable water is being restricted “to protect critical infrastructure and reduce strain on our water and wastewater systems.”

Clearwater residents are urged to treat intersections like four-way-stops where traffic boxes are removed and barrier island residents are encouraged to evacuate.

City officials also call on those evacuating to turn off their home’s power before leaving “to reduce the risk of an electrical fire due to flood inundation.”

A Garner employee makes sure that a portable light is working as the logistics company stages equipment at the Florida Horse Park in Ocala, Florida, on Tuesday.

Florida is setting up staging and response areas are set up across the state in preparation for Hurricane Milton to hit the Central Gulf Coast on Wednesday.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking from one of those response sites at the Florida Horse Park in Ocala, said the goal is to be able to deploy equipment and personnel quickly after the storm passes.

DeSantis said there are “massive amounts of equipment” already at the Ocala site, including bucket trucks, generators and other vehicles. The state has been amassing resources to the various sites since the weekend, the government said.

Here’s a look at Florida’s preparations, by the numbers:

On the 500-acre Horse Park property:

Florida Department of Emergency Management:

Fuel supplies from the state that is ready to be used, if needed:

People fill up gas containers at a station in Lakeland, Florida, on October 8.

Roughly one in six gas stations in Florida have run out of fuel as millions of people scramble to get out of Hurricane Milton’s path, according to the fuel tracking platform GasBuddy.

As of 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday, 17.4% of gas stations in Florida have no gas, GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan posted on X.

That’s up from 14.5% as of 9 a.m. ET.

Disney Theme parks will begin closing at 1 p.m. ET Wednesday, the company said on its website.

Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom will close at 1 p.m. ET while Magic Kingdom and EPCOT will close at 2 p.m. ET.

“It is likely the theme parks will remain closed on Thursday, October 10,” the company website said. “We will consider opening Disney Springs on Thursday in the late afternoon, with limited offerings.”

Tampa Bay regional planning officials have spent the past 15 years preparing for a massive and catastrophic hurricane making a direct hit on Tampa. Now, the real thing is heading toward them.

Hurricane Milton looks eerily like the fictional “Hurricane Phoenix,” a storm model simulation the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council first introduced in 2009 and updated in 2020 to help local officials and emergency responders prepare for the impacts of a future Category 5 storm.

The model was also designed to help small businesses plan on how to recover from such a storm.

Milton is not expected to hit Tampa as a Category 5 Hurricane, but there are similarities with the fictional storm.

“It was a simulated storm, and it was a worst-case scenario – which would be pretty close to what’s happening right now,” said Wren Krahl, executive director for the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council. “This one has almost the same track. It’s not a good situation.”

What makes Milton far scarier than any simulation is all the debris left behind by the recent Hurricane Helene, which is “like nothing I’ve witnessed before,” Krahl told CNN.

Local officials “have done a fabulous job, but I just don’t know how you deal with a storm of this size and this magnitude with this much population,” she added.

Krahl herself is hunkering down in her house – located in a non-evacuation zone – and anxiously awaiting the storm she and other officials have been planning on how to respond to for over a decade.

“I’m sitting here in this arena in my profession, and I’m frightened,” Krahl said. “This is a huge storm, and this is something that we just don’t know until we go through it.”

US military personnel at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, are completing a mandatory evacuation today ahead of Hurricane Milton, while thousands of National Guard members and some active-duty troops are preparing to help respond to the expected destruction in Florida.

MacDill has a deadline for personnel residing in multiple locations to evacuate by 4 p.m. local time on Tuesday, according to the evacuation order shared to the base’s Facebook page. Personnel from the US Central Command (CENTCOM) and the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) will be operating out of alternate locations, officials said.

Milton is expected to make landfall on Florida’s gulf coast on Wednesday. MacDill is located less than 10 miles from downtown Tampa.

A defense official also said CENTCOM personnel are adhering to the evacuation order and will be moving to operate out of alternate locations as well. Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said Tuesday that only “essential personnel needed at the base during this time” will remain, but for the most part people are evacuating.

CNN previously reported that about 185 MacDill personnel would be operating an Emergency Operations Center/Crisis Action Team out of Raymond James Stadium, and that aircraft including KC-135 tankers and F-16 fighter jets in Florida are being evacuated elsewhere. CNN also reported that the Navy is moving three destroyers out of Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville ahead of the storm.

Meanwhile, active-duty forces with US Army North and various helicopters and high-water vehicles have been mobilized to assist in Milton recovery and response.

As Hurricane Milton churns toward the west coast of Florida, wind gusts topping 100 mph “could exceed the safe limits for tower cranes, posing a risk of malfunction,” the city of St. Petersburg warned Tuesday.

“As Hurricane Milton rapidly intensifies offshore, it is projected to make landfall with eye wall hurricane force winds directly impacting the St. Pete area,” the city’s website said Tuesday.

Four construction sites “are of particular concern due to the height and design of the tower cranes present,” the city said.

But there’s not enough time to take the cranes down before Hurricane Milton’s projected landfall Wednesday night.

“The City has been in touch with the private developers managing these cranes. Due to the specialized nature of crane operations, lowering or securing a tower crane is scheduled weeks in advance and is not a feasible option within the timeframe of an approaching storm due to the rapid intensification and forecasted path,” officials said.

Instead, St. Petersburg implored residents and businesses near the affected construction sites “to either relocate or shelter in place.”

“For those choosing to shelter in place, interior areas near elevators or stairwells are considered the safest locations within buildings,” the city said.

The Cheetah Hunt roller coaster runs at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, on June 10, 2020.

Theme parks like Busch Gardens Tampa and SeaWorld Orlando are closing for parts of this week, according to their parent company United Parks & Resorts Inc.

SeaWorld will close on Wednesday and Thursday while Busch Gardens Tampa is closed Tuesday through Thursday.

Now is the time to evacuate, Jennifer Poirrier, city manager of Clearwater, Florida, told CNN’s Boris Sanchez Tuesday.

“Please do not wait,” Poirrier said.

Clearing the debris left from Helene has been the most significant challenge in preparing for Milton’s landfall, according to Poirrier.

“As you can see, there’s still a lot of debris out there,” Poirrier said. “It is a concern.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has issued a state of emergency for 38 counties ahead of Hurricane Milton and extended the one covering counties affected by Hurricane Helene in September.

Kemp also authorized the Georgia National Guard to call up as many as 250 service members for the state’s response to Milton.

The 38 counties affected by the state of emergency, which is in effect through October 16, are in southeast Georgia, some along the coast.

“I’m urging those who could be affected to prepare now!” the governor said on X.

Traffic flows eastbound, left lanes, along Interstate 4 as residents continue to follow evacuation orders ahead of Hurricane Milton on Tuesday.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said residents have a short window to execute their evacuation plans ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall, expected tomorrow night.

“You should be executing your plan now. If you’re gonna get out, get out now,” DeSantis said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

“You have time today. Time will be running out very shortly, if you wait any longer,” he added.

DeSantis noted that shoulders of major highway routes used for evacuations have been opened and tolls have been waived, as well.

Executive Director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management Kevin Guthrie added that the state is providing free shuttle service for people who are trying to evacuate.

“We have a system that the state of Florida provides. If you need a ride, you can certainly go to Lyft or Uber and put in ‘Milton Relief’… to get a free ride, or we’ll send a bus to pick you up, that number is 1-800-729-3413,” Guthrie said.

Guthrie also urged residents to prepare for the hurricane by charging all portable electronic devices and making sure supply kits have at least even days worth of food in it.

A man jogs on the Tampa Riverwalk in Florida on Tuesday.

Hurricane Milton and its furious winds are headed directly toward retail, office, apartment and other commercial properties along Florida’s Gulf Coast worth an estimated $1.1 trillion, according to Moody’s.

In a new report on Tuesday, Moody’s found that more than 235,000 commercial properties have a greater than 50% probability of being exposed to winds of 50 miles per hour or greater. That’s the speed at which at least some damage is likely.

The properties directly in the path of Hurricane Milton include about 79,000 retail properties, 65,000 apartment buildings and 44,000 industrial facilities, Moody’s said. There are also another 43,000 office properties and 5,000 hotels in this path.

Most of the high-value properties set to be exposed to high winds are located in the Tampa Bay, Sarasota and Fort Myers areas.

Moody’s added that the $1.1 trillion estimate ​reflects the scope of commercial real estate value in the storm’s path, not necessarily the losses or damages Milton will ultimately cause.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged those across the state of Florida to heed warnings from officials and remain vigilant as Hurricane Milton approaches.

“This storm is going to go across the Florida peninsula,” DeSantis said Tuesday during a press conference.

He told Floridians to be prepared for “significant impacts” as the storm’s path is likely to affect the entire state.

“This is not just an event about the West Coast of Florida,” he added.

People watch a television screen at a bar showing the local news channel as the community prepares for Hurricane Milton on October 8 in Orlando, Florida.

Conditions will begin to deteriorate along the west coast of Florida during the day Wednesday, particularly by the afternoon, with conditions getting significantly worse during the evening hours.

Here is a timeline for key areas along Milton’s path:

Tampa:

Sarasota:

Fort Myers:

Orlando:

Florida Highway Patrol troopers are escorting tankers that are carrying fuel to gas stations along evacuation routes, the governor said on Tuesday.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said this is so the trucks can get to their destinations faster.

The governor said the state is working with companies, such as Shell and WaWa among others, to make sure “fuel trucks are working 24/7 to keep fuel delivered” as it comes into ports.

DeSantis said earlier today that the state was going to send fuel from its own reserves to stations to resupply gas stations that have run out.

Florida Emergency Management director Kevin Guthrie on Monday warned of “several hours of congestion” on key interstates as hundreds of thousands of people were evacuating.

This post has been updated with additional information.

Some Puerto Ricans living in Florida are returning to the island in fear of the damage that will be caused by Hurricane Milton, which could be one of the most destructive storms ever recorded in parts of the state.

“We came back because we have had bad experiences with hurricanes in Miami,” said another of those interviewed. Some Puerto Ricans settled in Florida following the devastation left on the island by Hurricane Maria in 2017.

At the San Juan airport, where flights have not yet been suspended, Aerostar Airport Holdings president Jorge Hernandez told CNN that they continue to manage operations as normal, but urge passengers to stay in contact with airlines before going to the airport to ensure that their flights remain scheduled.

Sigue nuestra cobertura del huracán Milton en español.

The commissoner of Sarasota, Florida, said the city is shifting gears on Tuesday afternoon: from cleaning up from Hurricane Helene to bracing for Hurricane Milton.

Milton is expected to double in size before it makes landfall Category 3 hurricane late Wednesday. Sarasota and its barrier islands are in the storm’s projected path.

Erik Arroyo told CNN the city has been working with the county and private contractors to clean up debris from Helene. But now, many contractors are no longer willing to go out to the barrier islands as Milton creeps closer to landfall. Just a few government workers are accomplishing as much as they can before it becomes unsafe, Arroyo said.

The City of Sarasota said access to the barrier islands will be closed at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

The commissioner said the National Guard troops are now on standby for when clean-up efforts resume after Hurricane Milton hits.

Arroyo warned that Milton is going to be “unlike anything we’ve ever faced before,” and he had a message for residents who are ignoring mandatory evacuation orders.

“If you’re going to ignore all of the experts and every single evacuation order, get a Sharpie and write your name on your arm, at least, so we can identify your body after,” the commissioner said.

“This is not survivable,” Pinellas County Emergency Management Director Cathie Perkins said of the expected storm surge Tuesday, adding that evacuation zones not impacted by Hurricane Helene likely will be impacted by Milton.

More than 4,000 people are already in Pinellas County shelters ahead of Hurricane Milton, but officials are continuing to urge residents in vulnerable areas to evacuate ahead of the storm and the up to 15 foot swell of water it is expected to bring.

Perkins strongly advises residents against the idea of hunkering down in their homes to ride out the hurricane given the strength of the storm surge.

“Don’t think that you’re going to be able to ride that out. Don’t think you’re going to be able to protect your building. It’s going to be pushing against the walls of your structure for hours and hours,” she said of the surge. “This is why we need you to go.”

It’s not a matter of if the county will get hit, but when, Perkins warns.

She adds the region did not experience hurricane-force winds during Helene but Hurricane Milton will likely bring powerful gusts that could lead to widespread, long-lasting power outages.

After going through an eyewall replacement cycle earlier in the day, Hurricane Milton’s eye has reappeared.

A clear eye is one mark of a very powerful storm. Weather is relatively calm in the eye, but it’s surrounded by the eyewall where the hurricane’s most furious winds are.

Hurricane Milton churns in the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday afternoon.

In Milton’s case, these winds are screaming at 155 mph – just 2 mph shy of Category 5 status.

Milton’s eye clearing out could be a sign that it’s intensifying again. It did strengthen slightly early this afternoon when compared to this morning.

The amount of lightning in Hurricane Milton is “unlike any event” meteorologist Chris Vagasky has ever seen in the Atlantic Basin.

Hurricane Milton’s eyewall, where the storm’s strongest winds are, exhibited more than 58,000 lightning events in just 14 hours, according to Vagasky, a meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

That’s more than one lightning event every second, which he described as “astounding.”

Only 10% of tropical cyclones around the world develop this type of so-called “enveloped eyewall lightning” (EEL) signature each year, Vagasky told CNN. Hurricane Ian, which became a Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf in 2022, only had roughly 1,000 lightning events.

Milton’s lightning would rank with other historic tropical cyclones like Super Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines in 2013, and Hurricane Patricia in 2015.

The “exceptional” amount of lightning in Milton’s eyewall indicates that the hurricane is strengthening rapidly, Vagasky said, noting that this type of lightning signature will likely be more common as the planet warms.

“As we continue to experience an increasingly warmer environment and see more high end tropical cyclones, it is likely we’ll see more examples of this EEL signature,” he said.

As hurricanes are projected to get stronger due to climate change, real changes must be made to Florida’s infrastructure, according to St. Petersburg Mayor Kenneth Welch.

“We need to reset the way we’re looking at infrastructure, based on this new reality and the fact the climate change is happening quicker than we anticipated,” he added.

For now, Welch says the City of St. Petersburg is prepared for Hurricane Milton ahead of the storm’s arrival late Wednesday.

“We’ve done an excellent job from debris pickup to handing out [over 146,000] sandbags,” Welch said during a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

The city has also invested in infrastructure strengthening aimed at helping protect its wastewater plants, he added.

“There’s a project under construction, a $70 million project in response to that, that would raise that plant to withstand 11 feet of storm surge,” said Welch. “That is progress but now we’re seeing the storms are even more powerful than that.”

Hurricane Hunters were flying through Milton Tuesday afternoon as it was strengthening and experienced major turbulence. One of the flight engineers captured this video.

Milton has regained a bit of strength Tuesday afternoon and now has maximum sustained winds of 155 mph, just 2 mph shy of Category 5 strength, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center.

Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters found that Milton’s pressure has been falling and winds have been increasing. On satellite the eye has cleared significantly. All of these are signs that Milton is taking advantage of the extremely warm water and strengthening once again.

“While fluctuations in intensity are expected, Milton is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous hurricane through landfall in Florida,” the NHC warned.

Four people and a small dog were rescued after a plane crashed into Tampa Bay on Tuesday morning, officials said.

The passengers were trying to evacuate in the private plane ahead of Hurricane Milton, St. Petersburg Fire Rescue spokesperson Ashlie Handy told CNN in an email.

The crash occurred around 10:50 a.m. east of the St. Petersburg Pier.

“The six-passenger Cherokee airplane crashed immediately after takeoff from Albert Whitted Airport due to engine failure. The plane crashed into the water 300 yards east of the Pier and was completely submerged when crews arrived,” Handy said.

A Good Samaritan on a private boat with a St. Petersburg Police Department officer onboard pulled the passengers, described as men between 25 and 40, and the dog from the water. Three of the passengers were treated at the scene and taken to a hospital with injuries that were described as non-life-threatening.

John Fedor, of New Jersey, waits for transportation help to get to a shelter after his flight was canceled on Tuesday at the Tampa International Airport in Florida.

More than 1,500 flights in the United States have been canceled for Wednesday as Hurricane Milton gets closer to making landfall in Florida.

According to FlightAware, a total of 1,573 flights have been canceled already, which includes nearly all of the flights out of Orlando, Tampa, Sarasota, and Fort Myers, the tracker said.

Milton is forecast to make landfall Wednesday night as a Category 3 hurricane somewhere on Florida’s Central Gulf Coast, where it could be one of the most destructive storms on record.

Nearly 700 flights have been canceled so far on Tuesday, FightAware shows.

When Hurricane Ian ravaged southwest Florida in 2022, it washed away an iconic landmark: the clock in Fort Myers Beach’s Times Square.

The town’s promenade was destroyed. But as a symbol of strength and recovery, another green-blue clock was erected where the original beacon stood.

The town of Fort Myers Beach posted this photo of workers taking down the beloved Times Square clock Tuesday.

But this emblem of fortitude might not be strong enough to withstand Milton, which is forecast to make landfall on the west coast of Florida as a monstrous hurricane Wednesday night.

So on Tuesday, workers meticulously removed the towering timepiece for safe storage until Hurricane Milton passes. At that point, the sentimental timepiece will likely symbolize resilience after yet another catastrophe.

The Florida Department of Corrections took measures to move prisoners ahead of Hurricane Milton’s expected landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday.

“FDC has successfully relocated 4,636 inmates without compromising public safety and additional evacuations are underway,” according to the department’s website.

At other FDC facilities, authorities have canceled visitations in anticipation of the storm.

The department said it determines if and when to perform evacuations based on “the best interest of the public, staff and inmate safety,” but does not publicly announce the evacuations until after the inmates have been moved.

Florida residents have learned from Hurricane Helene as they brace for another powerful storm, Hurricane Milton, to make landfall in the state on Wednesday, the mayor of Tampa said.

Mayor Jane Castor said she thinks many residents are heeding warnings to evacuate.

Hillsborough County, where Tampa is located, “has issued mandatory evacuation orders for Evacuation Zones A & B and for all those in mobile homes,” according to the city of Tampa website.

Castor also cautioned people against spreading and believing rumors — specifically false statements that the city does not have enough resources to respond to the storm.

“That could not be further from the truth,” she said.

The mayor said various agencies and levels of government are working “hand-in-hand” to make sure “everyone is safe as we endure whatever Milton brings our way.”

Castor also mentioned that she talked to President Joe Biden for about 30 minutes last night — where they discussed how it could be “the storm of the century” — and spoke about preparations with FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. The mayor also said she is in close contact with the city’s emergency manager.

“They are working to get us all the resources we need,” she said.

A CNN team is in Indian Shores, Florida, Tuesday as the town works to clean up debris Hurricane Helene left behind less than two weeks ago before Hurricane Milton delivers a powerful blow late Wednesday.

CNN’s Bill Weir described “mountains of debris” still in place across the town. Milton’s current forecast track has the hurricane making landfall just 30 miles south of the area.

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Updated 9:15 PM EDT, Tue October 8, 2024

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CNN's Bill Weir gets a look at cleanup efforts ahead of Milton

00:57 - Source: CNN

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Updated 9:15 PM EDT, Tue October 8, 2024

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CNN's Bill Weir tracks hurricane preparations in Florida

00:57 - Source: CNN

Milton’s powerful winds could turn any debris left behind into dangerous projectiles or its life-threatening storm surge could wash it out to sea.

Debris is piled up on the side of a road in Indian Shores, Florida, Tuesday.

Hundreds of empty dump trucks are waiting to be filled with debris, but the process is taking “painful amounts of time,” according to Weir.

Dump trucks wait to be filled with debris in Indian Shores, Florida, Tuesday.

Milton’s landfall is now expected to coincide with rising tide levels in the Tampa area, increasing the risk of storm surge flooding.

The storm’s landfall time slowed down a bit in the latest update from the National Hurricane Center and is now expected very late Wednesday night into very early Thursday.

The Tampa Bay area will be experiencing low tide in the afternoon, so the water will be rising naturally with the tide cycle Wednesday evening and through the overnight.

Water levels will rise by nearly 3 feet in St. Petersburg between low tide at 2:04 pm on Wednesday and high tide at 5:59 am on Thursday.

Just outside Tampa Bay, on the Gulf of Mexico, water levels at Clearwater Beach will rise by 2.33 feet from low tide to high tide at 3:37 a.m. Thursday.

Water levels will also increase on top of these tides as Milton’s wind pushes the Gulf of Mexico onshore. The storm surge forecast for Tampa Bay calls for 10 to 15 feet.

The mayor of Tampa, Florida, said tankers are on their way to refill gas stations in the area as residents evacuate ahead of Hurricane Milton.

“The tankers are coming out of the port to replenish those filing stations as quick as they can,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said.

She pointed to one gas station in her neighborhood that was out of fuel on Monday, but is back with availability today. Castor urged people to be patient, but reiterated that “we have the gas situation covered in our city.”

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said Florida Highway Patrol troopers are escorting some of these fuel trucks to their destinations. The trucks are heading to gas stations along evacuation routes, it said in a post on X.

This post has been updated with additional information from the Florida highway safety department.

Hillsborough County residents are being urged to get their electric cars out of the path of Hurricane Milton’s expected flood waters.

Ken Hagan, board chair of the Hillsborough County Commissioners, advised electric vehicle owners to proactively move their cars to higher ground, to stay vigilant and to never drive through flood waters.

The commissioner noted that the city of Tampa has opened parking garages free of charge for electric vehicle owners who live in flood prone areas.

“Water will not only damage the battery but can lead to dangerous battery fires. Combustion can occur quickly, or manifest for weeks or months when exposed to salt water,” Hagan said.

The wastewater treatment facility that serves Asheville, North Carolina, and surrounding Buncombe County is back on utility power and the sewer system is working, though it has been processing three times more gallons of water than normal.

“The plant has been operating and treating the whole time throughout the storm. We had to use our backup generators immediately after the storm, but are now on utility power,” Tom Hardy, general manager for the Metropolitan Sewage District said Tuesday.

The plant typically runs about 20 million gallons per day, but for several days it was pushing 80 million gallons a day, according to Hardy.

“All our major lines are working. We call those interceptors, the larger lines, and all 40 of our pump stations have gotten back online, and several of them are on backup power, and we’re ferrying fuel to their generators,” Hardy said.

Repairs will be needed on some electrical panels and crews continue to assess the rest of the 1,100 miles of sewer lines in the region for any damage, but residents should be able to use the sewers.

“I want to emphasize people can flush and use the sewers. They are operating.” Hardy said. “You should check your own plumbing lines for damage from fallen trees out in your yard and that sort of thing. But please, please use the sewers if you have water.”

Workers are seen repairing a water main leading into Asheville, North Carolina, in a photo released on October 7.

Debris from homes flooded in Hurricane Helene is piled curbside as Hurricane Milton approaches on Tuesday in Port Richey, Florida.

Hurricane Milton is already roughly projected to cost “multiple tens of billions of dollars,” adding to a growing number of billion-dollar disasters in the US, according to a NOAA official.

The current tally for billion-dollar extreme weather disasters in the US is hovering around 23 or 24 so far this year, according to Adam Smith, a climatologist with NOAA who helps compile the government’s count of expensive extreme weather disasters.

That number is unofficial and likely to change. Smith told CNN in an email that the tally includes hurricanes Debbie, Helene and Milton, which NOAA plans to add to the list – and it could possibly also add a separate complex of severe summer storms.

“It will be a while before we can get our first sense of the magnitude of costs,” Smith said. NOAA anticipates both Helene and Milton’s impacts will cost “a multiple of tens of billions of dollars each.”

Last year, the US had a record 23 disasters costing at least $1 billion by September – with 28 such disasters in the calendar year, the most ever recorded.

Year-round disasters and stronger storms are straining the federal budget; even though FEMA was recently awarded $20 billion for response and recovery, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said her agency will need more funding from Congress by December or January – otherwise FEMA will have to temporarily suspend its longer-term recovery efforts.

NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, where Smith works, is located in Asheville, North Carolina, and was impacted by Helene. As Asheville remains without water, NCEI is lacking the water it needs to cool its computer infrastructure – meaning the center will have to wait weeks to update its weather, climate and billion-dollar-disaster reports.

With just over a day until Milton hits the Florida coast, forecasters are cautioning people not to let their guard down and to prepare for critical potential last second “wobbles” of the storm’s track.

Interaction with land and various atmospheric factors can cause a hurricane to wobble or shift its track seemingly without warning. These small shifts have big consequences: They could put locations previously thought to be relatively safer in incredible danger.

That’s why it’s important to pay attention to the cone, not just the landfall point. The cone represents where the hurricane’s center is likely to track about 60 to 70% of the time.

The current forecast has landfall occurring just north of Sarasota Wednesday night and takes Milton’s center just south of Tampa. This track will put the Tampa Bay area in danger from some of Milton’s worst rain and winds and will drive storm surge to near-record levels.

But a shift in landfall just a few miles north – still well within the cone – could usher in worst case scenario, catastrophic storm surge to the area. A southward wobble of the track within the cone could drive higher levels of surge than currently forecast into an area like Fort Myers.

Storm debris from Hurricane Helene is transported to the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa on Tuesday.

Heavy machinery and dump trucks are quickly delivering debris left over from Hurricane Helene to the Florida State Fairgrounds in Hillsborough County Tuesday before the rubbish can be swept up by the strong winds of Hurricane Milton.

Landfills in nearby Pinellas County are filling up, a fairgrounds worker told CNN’s Isabel Rosales Tuesday.

“There’s been a rush to pick up as much debris as possible,” before Milton hits, said St. Petersburg City Administrator, Rob Gerdes, during a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

Crews have been working around-the-clock since Sunday to get dangerous would-be projectiles – everything from furniture to mattresses – out of neighborhoods.

Over 300 dump trucks are removing debris left over from Hurricane Helene two weeks ago. In just the past 24 hours, 1,200 truckloads of debris, or about 22,000 cubic yards, have been removed from hard-hit areas.

Multiple agencies are assisting local governments with debris removal at the direction of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Department of Transportation said in a statement.

“Given the supplemental removal efforts being provided by State personnel, the Florida State Fairgrounds was proactively identified as an additional location,” the statement said.

The amount of debris collected in the St. Petersburg area has not been quantified, Gerdes said, but “It’s been all hands on deck, pick up every piece of debris that we can.”

Pumps are closed at a gas station on October 7 in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.

Demand for fuel has surged in Florida as evacuees flee Hurricane Milton’s projected path, while others who are staying put fill gas tanks so they can power generators if they lose electricity.

As of Tuesday morning, 14.5% of gas stations statewide were without fuel — a dramatic spike from 3% on Monday, the gas price-tracking service GasBuddy reported. The situation was far worse in areas with mandatory evacuation orders. In Fort Myers, on the Gulf Coast, 70% of stations had no gas Monday night.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tried to tamp down panic buying, which can make shortages worse. He said 1.2 million gallons of gas and diesel fuel were en route to various parts of the state Tuesday, with more in reserves.

But Florida could face extended problems getting fuel into the state if the Port of Tampa gets damaged by Milton, market experts said.

The governor said state officials are trying to make other arrangements to get fuel into the state.

“We are assuming — it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen — but we are assuming that there’s going to be significant damage to the Port of Tampa,” DeSantis said. “So we’re operating as if there’s going to be a significant interruption in their ability to receive fuel.”

Read more about the fuel situation in Florida.

As crews from the Federal Emergency Management Agency continue search and rescue operations throughout Buncombe County, North Carolina, other FEMA teams are helping people impacted by Helene get federal assistance.

“To date, across the state of North Carolina, FEMA has approved 28,000 applications for assistance for over $37 million, and in (Buncombe) County, we have approved 14,500 applications for about $15.9 million,” MaryAnn Tierney, the lead for FEMA’s National Incident Management Assistance Team, said Tuesday.

Disaster Survivor Assistance Teams are active throughout the county to help people who can register themselves, according to Tierney.

The assistance is a grant, not a loan, she said, and recipients will not be expected to pay it back.

“We have a variety of assistance options available, including serious needs assistance, which provides an infusion of cash to help you with your immediate needs, displacement assistance and eventually housing assistance and rental assistance,” Tierny said, adding mental health crisis counseling and prescription drug assistance is also available.

Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer told CNN’s Jim Acosta earlier Tuesday that she has been in touch with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and praised the federal disaster response.

“We have a very well-coordinated, large effort of a federal response underway here on the ground in Asheville and in the county where Asheville is located, and our surrounding areas,” Manheimer said.

Cobi Pepperman helps his father load belongings in a truck while preparing to evacuate from their home ahead of Hurricane Milton in New Port Richey, Florida, on Tuesday.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas emphasized that residents in evacuation areas in Hurricane Milton’s path in Florida need to follow local orders to get out.

Asked about whether DHS has enough funding to respond to Milton, Mayorkas said, “We have the funding to support the survivors in the communities impacted by Hurricane Helene as well as Hurricane Milton. We have those resources.”

But he added that — given the fact that extreme weather is becoming more unpredictable — Congress needs to act now to so that the federal government is prepared in the long term.

An astronaut flying over Hurricane Milton captured the scale of Hurricane Milton from space in a new timelapse video taken Tuesday.

Milton is a relatively small storm, but is expected to double in size before it makes landfall.

The arrival of Hurricane Milton is certain to cause significant damage in Pasco County, just north of Tampa, according to the county’s director of emergency management.

“I hate to say it like this – Pasco County’s going to get a black eye from this one,” Andrew Fossa said in a Tuesday morning news conference.

Despite intense efforts to clear out debris left behind from Hurricane Helene that could become missiles when hurricane-force winds return, County Administrator Mike Carballa warned the cleanup job will not be finished when Milton arrives.

“When Helene ended, our estimate was three months’ worth of debris (cleanup). Hundreds of thousands of yards. We will not get that up in three days, okay?” Carballa said. “We have been through neighborhoods, and it looks like we weren’t even there.”

The entire Gulf of Mexico is extremely warm, but some of the warmest water is located where Milton exploded in strength yesterday and near Florida’s western coast – where it’ll ultimately make landfall.

The water near Florida’s coast is anywhere from 3.5 to 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it should be at this time of year, according to hurricane expert Brian McNoldy.

Atmospheric conditions are expected to be more hostile to Milton as it approaches land, limiting its strength. But extremely warm water has already acted like rocket fuel for Milton, so it’s not out of the question it could keep the storm a little stronger than expected.

The extremely warm water in place in the Gulf isn’t a fluke though: it was made significantly more likely by climate change, an analysis released yesterday showed.

Human-caused climate change over the past two weeks made the at-or-near record-breaking ocean temperatures that fueled Milton’s explosion 400 to 800 times more likely to occur, according to the nonprofit research group Climate Central.

Mayor Andy Ross of Temple Terrace, Florida is warning of the mental strain disaster messaging can hold and emphasizes the need for residents to look out for each other now more than ever.

“We’re three or four days into nonstop terrifying messages to the public,” Ross said. “Even if your home is fine and even if everything is fine, the mental health impact of this can be catastrophic.”

Ross implored residents to stay informed but not to “leave the television on watching this 24/7 non-stop. That is not mentally healthy.”

The mayor recommended residents check updates every hour, or every few hours when updates are released.

“Don’t panic. Look out for each other,” he advised.

President Joe Biden speaks about the federal government response to Hurricane Helene and preparations for Hurricane Milton at the White House in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden urged residents in evacuation zones in Florida that they need to get out now.

“I’ve been briefed by senior leaders of this administration, and we’re driving up preparedness for Hurricane Milton, which could be one of the worst storms in 100 years in Florida,” Biden said from the White House.

The president also told reporters that he had spoken Monday night with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and during that call gave his personal number out to both DeSantis and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor.

Biden sharply condemned a spate of misinformation surrounding hurricanes Helene and Milton, calling those who spread it “un-American.”

Biden did not reference former President Donald Trump, who has been among those actively spreading misinformation about the federal response to the storms.

The Biden administration has grown increasingly alarmed about the state of misinformation around relief efforts, with multiple officials speaking out about the politicization and mistrust.

This post has been updated with additional comments from the president.

Milton strengthened slightly to a 150 mph Category 4 hurricane per the 11am EDT update from the National Hurricane Center.

While the official forecast no longer calls for Milton to restrengthen back to Category 5, it is expected to remain a powerful Category 4 through the rest of the day today and much of tomorrow.

The storm will encounter strong upper level winds in the atmosphere Wednesday which will weaken Milton slightly, but they will not keep Milton from being “an extremely dangerous hurricane when it reaches shore,” the NHC said.

Storm surge warnings have also been extended southward along the east coast of Florida down to Port Canaveral.

The government of the Bahamas has also issued a Tropical Storm Watch for the extreme northwestern Bahamas, including Grand Bahama Island, the Abacos, and Bimini.

Flood damage wrought by Hurricane Helene is seen along the Swannanoa River on October 3 in Asheville, North Carolina.

A massive coordinated effort has sprung up among volunteers and local, state and federal nonprofits to send aid and much-needed supplies to areas of western North Carolina impacted by Helene, and now the manager of one badly hit county says financial assistance is needed most.

“If you’re able, the most impactful way for you to support the recovery effort at this time is through monetary donations to recognized disaster relief organizations,” Avril Pinder, the county manager of Buncombe County, said Tuesday.

Buncombe County includes Asheville, which suffered severe flooding and damage.

Tampa Electric mobilized its largest deployment of utility workers ever in advance of Hurricane Milton, said Tampa Electric spokesperson Mary Lou Carn in a news conference Tuesday.

“So far we’ve mobilized 4,500 utility workers from as far away as Texas, Missouri, and Minnesota to help us with our restoration efforts,” she said.

Carn noted that Tampa Electric currently has no plans to deactivate power in the area, despite Milton’s threat.

“We only proactively turn off power in the rare case that flooding is imminent, and storm surge has reached critical levels,” Carn said, adding that power deactivation is only performed in extreme circumstances.

“We did not need to do this in Helene, even though we had record breaking storm surge,” she noted.

Clearwater, Florida, Mayor Bruce Rector is warning residents in evacuation to get out as soon as possible ahead of Hurricane Milton making landfall.

“It’s very important that people get out as soon as possible,” he added

Rector said some elderly people who live in higher condominium buildings are potentially opting to ride the storm out, but he warned against doing that.

Those who live in high-rise buildings in evacuation areas should still get out, he said, “They don’t realize that they’re still at risk. It doesn’t matter how high you are, projectiles can come through your windows, you’re going to be without electricity for as long as two weeks or longer and it’s not the safe place to be. It doesn’t matter what type of building you’re in or how high you are, if you are in an evacuation zone, you need to get out.”

Rector said that he plans to ride with police officers to convince people to evacuate and try to describe to them the “misery” he saw this past week after Hurricane Helene.

Milton was a monster Category 5 hurricane yesterday, peaking at winds of 180 mph. But it lost some strength overnight as it started an eyewall replacement cycle, which is common in very strong hurricanes.

This happens when a powerful eyewall – where a storm’s fiercest winds are located – can’t support its max strength and start to deteroriate. Hurricanes then reform a new, larger eyewall and can start to intensify once again.

Milton has a tiny, “pinhole” eye at the start of the loop below which eventually deteriorates.

This loop shows the center structure of Milton from Monday evening into Tuesday morning.

Over the course of a few hours, the missing eyewall is replaced by newer, larger eyewall which is more dangerous because it reaches a wider area.

These cycles “often cause the peak winds to fluctuate, while the wind field generally expands,” the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday morning.

That’s exactly what happened to Milton since Monday night. It dropped from Category 5 to Category 4 overnight but its tropical storm-force winds started to expand this morning as its eye worked to reconsolidate.

Once the new eyewall is settled, it can restrengthen again and sometimes surpass its previous peak strength.

Workers are seen repairing a water main leading into Asheville, North Carolina, in a photo released on October 7.

Hurricane Helene recovery in Asheville, North Carolina, has been severely hampered by a lack of running water, and the mayor says that’s unlikely to change any time soon.

“We still have a lot of people without water to their homes because our water system is still out of commission,” Mayor Esther Manheimer told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Tuesday.

All Asheville City and Buncombe County public schools are closed indefinitely while the water system is repaired.

“Unfortunately, one of the hardest-hit areas of our county was in this area where these transmission lines come from,” Manheimer said. “Literally this water-flooding event created a canyon with a new river channel that knocked out these lines.”

The mayor said a FEMA crew had to drill a new well to provide water to the city’s main hospital.

For anyone needing another reason to evacuate, officials in the Tampa Bay area say they are shutting off water service ahead of Hurricane Milton’s arrival.

In Manatee County: “With a significant storm surge expected along coastal parts of the county, the Manatee County Utilities Department scheduled the shut-off of potable water service and sanitary sewer service to the island cities of Anna Maria Island, Holmes Beach, Bradenton Beach, and the Town of Longboat Key,” county officials said Tuesday.

“This necessary interruption of service — in coordination with Island cities — is happening today to best ensure the utility infrastructure remains intact and to save the sewer lift stations,” they added.

Trash pickup has also been suspended in Manatee County through Friday.

In Sarasota County: Faucets and even fire hydrants will go dry in Venice starting Tuesday evening.

“Water service, including water for fire protection, will remain off for the duration of the storm and until any repairs are completed,” city officials said. “Wastewater service and power are also expected to be unavailable during this time.”

The water outage could last several days. “Once service is restored, you will be under a boil water advisory until you receive a notification stating the water is safe for consumption,” Venice officials said.

Elsewhere in Sarasota County, potable water and lift stations for wastewater services have been turned off for residents on Siesta Key and Casey Key, the county’s emergency services department said.

“This precautionary measure protects the community’s infrastructure, which may be inundated by storm surge and high winds,” Sarasota County Emergency Services said.

Remember: This is the second time in less than two weeks that some Tampa Bay area residents have lacked potable water. Some residents in Sarasota County and on Anna Maria Island were under boil water advisories after Hurricane Helene struck. 

President Joe Biden speaks at the top of the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on October 4.

President Joe Biden will no longer travel abroad this week as a major hurricane speeds toward Florida.

The statement comes ahead of Biden’s expected remarks this morning on Hurricane Milton’s expected impact and ongoing recovery efforts for Helene.

Biden’s team had been closely monitoring the storm as the planned trip approached, with a decision looming on whether to cancel it.

And with just weeks left until Election Day, the politics of managing the storm recovery — with Republicans already having seized on the Biden administration’s handling of Helene — had become a serious flashpoint.

The president and top White House officials have grown highly concerned at the spread of disinformation about the federal response to last week’s Hurricane Helene, including falsehoods repeated by former President Donald Trump.

One of Trump’s spurious claims has been that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are absent from the storm recovery, despite both traveling to affected states. If Biden was abroad after Milton, however, some Democrats worried it could lend credence to what have otherwise been baseless allegations.

Contractors put plywood over windows at the El Encanto Building in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday.

Hurricane Milton is posing such a serious threat that forecasters are using some of the strongest possible wording to try to get people to take it seriously and evacuate if told to do so.

“If the storm stays on the current track, it will be the worst storm to impact the Tampa area in over 100 years,” the National Weather Service in Tampa said. “Milton continues to pose a potentially catastrophic threat to parts of the west Florida coast.”

“Heavy rainfall from Milton will result in widespread flash flooding Wednesday across central Florida, with life-threatening and catastrophic flooding probable,” the Weather Prediction Center said.

A man clears debris left by Hurricane Helene from his home ahead of Hurricane Milton's expected landfall in the middle of this week in Treasure Island, Florida on October 7.

Milton became one of the strongest hurricanes ever in the Atlantic basin when its winds maxed out at 180 mph yesterday.

Only five Atlantic hurricanes have ever been stronger than Milton:

Milton’s pressure also plummeted to a nearly record-breaking level Monday evening: 897 millibars. Hurricanes are just very strong low pressure systems, so the lower the pressure drops, generally the stronger the system gets. Only three Atlantic hurricanes since 1979 have reached a lower pressure:

At its peak, Milton surpassed the year’s most intense typhoons in the West Pacific to become the strongest storm on the planet this year.

But the West Pacific Ocean is still home to some of the strongest storms on record and storms there can more often exceed Milton’s might.

Contractors with the City of New Port Richey help clean debris left by Hurricane Helene in preparation for Hurricane Milton on October 7 in New Port Richey, Florida.

Lifeguards on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay took precautions and removed beach chairs and other items that could become dangerous debris the strong winds of Milton.

Elsewhere, stoves, chairs, refrigerators and kitchen tables waited in heaps to be picked up. Sarah Steslicki, who lives in Belleair Beach, said she was frustrated that more debris had not been collected sooner.

“If this one does hit, it’s going to be flying missiles,” she told the Associated Press on Monday. “Stuff’s going to be floating and flying in the air.”

Debris from Hurricane Helene is seen in Pass-a-Grille, Florida, on Tuesday.

Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall late Wednesday as a Category 3 on Florida’s Gulf Coast and it’s dangerous eye wall could come ashore in Tampa.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said her agency will need more funding from Congress by December or January – otherwise FEMA will only be able to respond to immediate disasters and have to temporarily suspend its longer-term recovery efforts.

Criswell reiterated the agency currently has enough funding to respond to both hurricanes Helene and Milton and be able to provide longer-term recovery assistance to disaster survivors around the country hit by previous storms and wildfires.

“I’m not going to be able to support those recoveries for long without a supplemental and we anticipate needing additional funding in the December, January timeframe,” Criswell said. She added the agency currently has a little over $20 billion to spend and will assess how much supplemental funding it will need to ask Congress for by this winter.

FEMA currently has over 1,000 incident management staff – or about 9% of its total personnel – deployed to Florida for Milton, Criswell said. More FEMA staff will be deployed before the hurricane hits.

There are around 7,500 personnel from across the entire federal government – 4,000 of which are FEMA staff – deployed around the country to assist with disasters, with many still concentrated in North Carolina to assist with Helene recovery.

Just two weeks after Hurricane Helene broke records for storm surge in Tampa, Milton is forecast to produce even higher surge levels.

Helene’s eye never got within 100 miles of Tampa Bay, but all Tampa area tide gauges rose several feet to record levels never before observed – 5 to 6 feet. Now those same gauges are forecast to hit levels twice as high – 10 to 15 feet – as Milton makes landfall.

Several factors are likely to exacerbate the storm surge flooding. Both the storm’s size and forward speed are expected to increase before landfall, which tends to increase the maximum storm surge.

Exactly when and where the storm tracks as it nears landfall will also affect storm surge levels in Tampa.

While dozens of shelters are already available in Florida to prepare for Hurricane Milton, the state will be opening additional locations near interstates that can accommodate thousands of people who find themselves stranded, Gov. Ron DeSantis said.

“We have one of the sites that can do 10,000 (people). Others will do multiple thousands. But these are designed to be a shelter of last resort,” said DeSantis.

The state will initially open four of the supersized shelters near Interstate 4 and Interstate 75, the governor said, with the ability to add 10 more if necessary.

“It could be a situation where if you’re trying tonight, you’re on the road, traffic’s bad, you say, hey, there’s a shelter here in Lakeland I can go to and ride out the storm and then go back, that is an absolutely safe option to do,” DeSantis said.

Parts of Florida’s Hillsborough County, not yet recovered from the impact of Hurricane Helene, are going to experience “catastrophic loss” when Hurricane Milton hits, Sheriff Chad Chronister said Tuesday.

The area is already heavily saturated from the impact of Hurricane Helene, leaving drainage and sewage systems overburdened, Chronister said.

Officials are expecting even stronger winds from Milton, meaning they may not be able to safely perform rescues once it hits, Chronister said, urging people to leave now.

The county has issued a mandatory evacuation order for parts of Hillsborough, giving residents until 7 a.m. ET on Wednesday to leave.

Chronister said many people are heeding the warnings, citing an increase in traffic and long lines at gas stations and grocery stores in the county.

“If you choose to stay, you’re staying at your own risk,” he said.

Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island are under mandatory evacuation orders as Hurricane Milton approaches on Monday, October 7.

Floridians shouldn’t get complacent just because Milton is expected to decrease in category as it travels across the state, said Michael Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center.

While the hurricane’s strength is projected to weaken, it’s also expected to grow in width — doubling in size in less than two days.

Brennan warned of a “vast area” of destruction, including “impacts that are going to last several days if you think of those power outages, the wind damage, the trees that are going to go down.”

In addition to life-threatening storm surge, “Rainfall totals are going to be pretty extreme in some areas — especially along and just north of the track,” Brennan said. “We could see up to 18 inches of rain in some isolated locations.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis laid out some facts and figures Tuesday of how the state is preparing for Hurricane Milton’s expected landfall.

Here’s what the governor said:

Milton weakened some to a 145 mph Category 4 hurricane, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center.

The storm is located about 545 miles southwest of Tampa and is moving east-northeast at 12 mph.

The hurricane has lost some strength overnight after becoming one of the strongest on record in the Atlantic on Monday, but is expected to regain Category 5 strength Tuesday morning and maintain it through the day Tuesday.

Milton is expected to make landfall as a much larger Category 3 hurricane late Wednesday. The sprawl of the growing storm as it tracks across Florida means hurricane warnings have now been issued for the east coast of Florida from the Indian River/St. Lucie County Line northward to Ponte Vedra Beach.

Dangerous Hurricane Milton has started to grow in size this morning as its strength fluctuates. The bigger Milton gets, the farther from its center its damaging winds will reach.

Milton’s tropical storm-force winds extended about 80 miles from its center most of Monday, but its wind field grew to just over 100 miles this morning.

“Milton is still a relatively compact hurricane, but the wind field is expected to continue to grow in size as it approaches Florida,” the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday. “The official forecast shows the hurricane and tropical storm-force winds roughly doubling in size by the time it makes landfall.”

One model depiction of Milton's wind gusts as it approaches landfall Wednesday night.

When Milton makes landfall in Florida Wednesday night, its tropical storm-force winds will extend about 230 miles outward from its center. That’s far enough to cover the entire width of the state’s Peninsula.

“Damaging winds, life-threatening storm surge, and heavy rainfall will extend well outside the forecast cone,” the center warned.

Atlanta Motor Speedway is opening its campgrounds to the hundreds of thousands of people evacuating their Florida homes ahead of Hurricane Milton’s expected arrival in the state.

Located 30 miles south of Atlanta in Hampton, Georgia, the speedway is making campgrounds freely available for RVs as well as tents and providing access to shower facilities.

In collaboration with the Henry County Emergency Management Agency, the speedway will provide dry camping free of charge in its Legends Premium Campground for RVs and Legends Tent Campground for pop-up campers and tents. Evacuees staying in these campgrounds will also have complimentary access to nearby showers while staying at the speedway.

The campgrounds hosted evacuees during previous hurricanes including Irma, Florence and Hurricane Idalia last year, the speedway said.

Misinformation about federal emergency funding threatens to erode the public’s trust in federal support and prevent people from getting help they desperately need, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell warned Tuesday.

A flood of false rumors about FEMA funding have plagued the agency in recent days. Former President Donald Trump recently claimed incorrectly that FEMA funds have been used for housing for illegal migrants.

“His accusations are just completely false,” Criswell told CNN’s Kate Bolduan.

FEMA is pre-positioning search and rescue, health care and Army Corps teams to meet the immediate needs of people in Florida, where officials are expecting a particularly intense hit from Milton, Criswell said. The agency can tap into surge capacity, if needed, and have members from other agencies and departments help out, she added.

“Just because you don’t see somebody on the ground in a FEMA shirt, doesn’t mean we don’t have people there,” Criswell sad. “We have people that are embedded in the state emergency operations center. I have teams that are walking around neighborhoods … People are on the ground.”

The state of Florida is trying to keep gas stations supplied as the rush in demand for fuel is complicating evacuations.

The state is sending fuel from its own reserves to stations to resupply them, including more than 100,000 gallons of gasoline, as 1.2 million additional gallons of gasoline and diesel are en route to the state, the governor said in a Tuesday morning news conference.

“We have been dispatching fuel over the past 24 hours as gas stations have run out,” DeSantis said.

This story was updated to clarify the extent of Florida fuel shortages.

The view from a waterfront structure is pictured before the arrival of Hurricane Milton, in St. Pete Beach, Florida, on October 7.

Milton’s outer bands could start impacting Florida Peninsula and the Keys with embedded tornadoes and waterspouts as early as this evening as people try to flee the storm.

“Several places may experience tornado damage with a few spots of considerable damage, power loss, and communication failures,” the National Weather Service office in Miami warned.

There is a level 1 of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms, primarily for tornadoes, Tuesday for portions of central and southern Florida including Miami, Tampa, and Fort Myers. The severe thunderstorm threat increases to a level 2 of 5 on Wednesday as more outer bands impact the state. This includes Tampa, Orlando, Naples, Key West and Miami.

Hurricane Helene spawned more than 30 tornadoes around the Southeast.

President Joe Biden appears during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on October 4, in Washington, DC.

As President Joe Biden and his aides closely watch a major hurricane speeding toward Florida, a question hanging over his team is whether to cancel or postpone a two-country foreign trip scheduled to begin Thursday.

Complicating the decision-making: Biden has planned a major summit on Saturday in Germany, with the leaders of France, the United Kingdom and other European countries all putting aside time to travel to a US air base for talks on sustaining support for Ukraine.

As of Tuesday morning, a German source said they hadn’t received information from the White House that Biden was planning to cancel his visit. Still, aides inside the White House have not ruled out a change in plans as Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida’s west coast.

Biden was set to receive a briefing on the storm Tuesday morning and deliver remarks from the Roosevelt Room afterward. The president and top White House officials have grown highly concerned at the spread of disinformation about the federal response to last week’s Hurricane Helene, including falsehoods repeated by former President Donald Trump.

The family who owns Biltmore Estate, a massive part of Asheville’s economy that welcomes 1.4 million visitors a year, is donating $2 million to help western North Carolina recover from Tropical Storm Helene’s destruction, the estate said.

The funds will seed the “Biltmore Relief Fund for WNC,” which will provide “financial relief for people in need, including supporting employees in crisis, providing support to area non-profits aiding the region, and investing in recovery,” Biltmore said in a statement.

Debris covers the entrance to Biltmore Estate on October 1 after Hurricane Helene pounded the Southeast.

Biltmore Estate is in Buncombe County, the unexpected epicenter of deaths and destruction from Helene. At least 72 victims have died in the county, with dozens of people still unaccounted for.

The 8,000-acre estate suffered significant damage to some buildings and “sadly lost a few of our animals during the storm,” Biltmore said. But the famed Biltmore House — the largest privately owned mansion in the US — was largely unscathed.

Biltmore was the primary home of George Vanderbilt, his family and descendants from 1895 to the early 1930s.

“While the estate remains closed due to storm damage, as well as technology infrastructure, power, and water outages, the estate is working during this crisis to assist with immediate needs of emergency response teams, the estate’s employees, and long-standing non-profit partners in the Asheville community,” Biltmore said.

It’s unclear when Biltmore, which employs about 2,400 people, will reopen.

“We remain committed to supporting our employees and neighbors in the aftermath of this unprecedented storm and the long-term recovery efforts,” Biltmore President and CEO Bill Cecil, Jr. said in the statement. “Now more than ever, we must work together to stabilize and rebuild this community.”

Uber offers free rides to and from shelters in Florida.

Uber is partnering with the Florida Division of Emergency Management to offer free rides to and from shelters for Floridians from evacuating counties, the agency announced Tuesday.

Those evacuating can use the promo code “MILTONRELIEF” on the Uber app for a ride to or from a state-approved shelter.

Hundreds of thousands of people are preparing to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Milton’s arrival, and officials have warned that traffic will be congested as people leave dangerous storm areas.

Heavy traffic begins to back up on Interstate 275 as residents evacuate St. Petersburg, Florida, ahead of Hurricane Milton, on October 7.

As hundreds of thousands of people in Florida are preparing to evacuate their homes ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, state officials are warning that getting to a safe location quickly will get harder the longer people wait.

The Florida Department of Transportation will be allowing people to drive on the emergency shoulders of key interstates, but they will not be using “contraflow,” a system used by some states which turns all lanes of an interstate into outbound traffic away from the evacuation zones.

“We need that interstate system for emergency responders, for staging of assets and resources, for residents to continue to move around,” said Guthrie. “You’ve heard of how evacuations happen here. To get out of the storm surge area, to get to a place of safety, we need access to remain for all of our facilities.”

The Weather Prediction Center has increased the rainfall threat for Wednesday to a rare “high” risk, or a level 4 of 4. The center is warning “widespread and numerous instances of flash flooding are expected with life-threatening and catastrophic flash flooding probable.”

The significance of these high-risk warnings cannot be overstated. While they are issued on fewer than 4% of days each year, they account for 83% of flood-related damage and 39% of flood-related fatalities, according to the center.

Tampa and Orlando are forecast to pick up from 8 to 12 inches of rain through Thursday. For Orlando this would equal roughly two months’ worth of rain – the October average is 3.46 inches. For Tampa that would equal more than five months’ worth of rain – the average for October is 2.34 inches.

More than 10 inches of rain could also break monthly records for some cities in central Florida. In Fort Myers and Sarasota, forecast totals would result in their wettest October on record by the end of this week. Tampa could end up with the city’s second-wettest October on record.

The heavy rainfall combined with high storm surge could create an especially dangerous situation.

“At the time of high tide and the storm surge, the added water from the Gulf/Atlantic will effectively block effective drainage from the rainfall falling over the interior. The 6-12 inches (with locally higher amounts of rainfall) having nowhere to drain due to the high tide and storm surge flooding will also work to exacerbate the flooding impacts from Milton since that rainwater will have nowhere to drain,” the Weather Prediction Center warns.

Flood watches remain for nearly 20 million people across Florida, and over 5 million people are under storm surge alerts.

People fill sandbags as the state prepares for the arrival of Hurricane Milton on October 7, in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Hurricane Milton has winds of 155 mph, which is still a Category 4 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center’s 5 a.m. ET update. The storm is about 560 miles southwest of Tampa, moving east-northeast at 12 mph.

The storm is expected to regain Category 5 strength Tuesday morning and maintain this strength through the day Tuesday. Milton is expected to make landfall as a major Category 3 hurricane late Wednesday.

“Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida,” the hurricane center said. “Milton is still a relatively compact hurricane, but the wind field is expected to continue to grow in size as it approaches Florida. In fact, the official forecast shows the hurricane and tropical-storm-force winds roughly doubling in size by the time it makes landfall.”

This means the dangerous winds, life-threatening storm surge, and heavy rain are expected to impact areas far beyond the forecast cone.

Milton is currently completing an eyewall replacement cycle, meaning re-intensification should begin shortly, according to the hurricane center. An eyewall replacement cycle is a common in major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher). In an eyewall replacement cycle, a large outer eyewall develops and becomes dominant as the inner eyewall shrinks and collapses. This leads to slight weakening, but also tends to cause the size of the hurricane to increase. As the outer eyewall begins to tighten, the hurricane can strengthen once again.

Both the NOAA and Air Force hurricane hunters are scheduled to investigate Milton again this morning.

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Updated 9:15 PM EDT, Tue October 8, 2024

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Hurricane Milton's magnitude brings veteran meteorologist to tears

00:52 - Source: CNN

As disaster-weary communities in Florida prepare for another catastrophic storm, beloved local meteorologist John Morales became emotional while delivering his forecast on air Monday.

“It’s just an incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane. It has dropped — it has dropped 50 millibars in 10 hours,” Morales said, his voice breaking and becoming shaky as he spoke of the stunning drop in atmospheric pressure that accompanied Milton on Monday.

“I apologize. This is just horrific,” Morales said after he took a brief pause during an NBC6 in Miami broadcast.

Morales took to X later in the day to say, “extreme weather driven by global warming has changed me. Frankly, YOU should be shaken too, and demand #ClimateActionNow.”

Morales is fixture in the South Florida community and has helped guide residents through its major hurricanes including Andrew in 1992, a wave of Florida hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 that included Katrina and Wilma, and most recently Hurricane Matthew, Irma and Maria — which struck his native Puerto Rico.

A weather alert is displayed along a sidewalk as Hurricane Milton churns in the Gulf of Mexico, in Tampa, Florida, on October 7.

Hurricane Milton has weakened momentarily and is now a Category 4 storm, according to an update from the National Hurricane Center.

The storm has winds of 155 mph, down from 165 mph. It is located about 585 miles southwest of Tampa, Florida and is moving east at 9 mph, the hurricane center said.

While the storm has dipped into Category 4 status, it is expected to regain Category 5 strength Tuesday morning and maintain this strength through the day. It is expected to fluctuate in intensity before ultimately making landfall on Wednesday as a Category 3 storm.

More than 12 million people are under hurricane watches and warnings, and over 8 million people are under tropical storm watches.

“Hurricane conditions are expected in the warning area on the west coast of Florida as early as Wednesday afternoon, with tropical storm conditions beginning early Wednesday. Hurricane conditions could begin along the east coast of Florida in the watch areas on Wednesday night, with tropical storm conditions possible beginning Wednesday afternoon,” warns the hurricane center.

Rainfall of 5 to 10 inches with isolated totals up to 15 inches is possible across Florida through Thursday. The Florida Keys could see 4 to 7 inches of rainfall through Thursday as well. Nearly 20 million people are under flood watches across Florida.

Storm surge of 10 to 15 feet above ground is possible from the Anclote River to the north of Clearwater then south to Englewood, Florida, an area that includes Tampa Bay.

Residents of Sunset Beach, Florida, were finally able to access their homes by car on Monday, only to grab their belongings and evacuate again as Hurricane Milton approaches.

Sunset Beach, a neighborhood on Treasure Island, a barrier island west of St. Petersburg in the Gulf of Mexico, has only been accessible by foot since Helene passed through Florida, dumping feet of sand and debris over streets and inside homes. Authorities reopened the roads to vehicle traffic on Monday so residents could gather their possessions and reinforce their homes before Milton’s arrival.

At 7 p.m. Tuesday, access to the islands will be restricted. Once people leave, they will not be able to return until it is safe to do so, the city said.

Resident Sarah Lee McKinney relied on a golf cart shuttle to get her off the island Monday. She told CNN affiliate WFTS that she hopes others won’t try to ride out the storm like they did last time.

“I’m praying that God will give everybody the wisdom to get out and to remember that it’s only stuff and it can be replaced,” she told the affiliate.

CNN’s Melissa Alonso contributed to this report.