Intensifying to Category 5, Hurricane Milton targets Florida

TREASURE ISLAND, Florida: Hurricane Milton exploded in strength Monday (Oct 7) to become a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm bound for Florida, threatening the US state with a second ferocious storm in as many weeks.
Milton, which is also forecast to graze Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula as it churns eastward, rapidly intensified to the highest category on a scale of five, triggering evacuation orders and alarms about life-threatening storm surges in major population centres including Tampa Bay.
Maximum sustained winds are estimated to be 257 kmh, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory.
Florida’s emergency management division has ordered mandatory evacuations for several low-lying areas.
The NHC warned of a major storm surge for Florida’s west coast beginning Tuesday night or early Wednesday and said Tampa – a metropolitan area of more than three million people – could suffer an influx of water between 2.4m and 3.6m above ground level.
Governor Ron DeSantis, who has declared 51 of Florida’s 67 counties under a state of emergency, said the race was on to clear damage from Helene ahead of Milton’s arrival.
“We need as much of this debris picked up as possible,” DeSantis told a press conference. “This creates a safety hazard, and it also will increase the damage that Milton could do with flying debris.”
The NHC also warned of storm surges raising water levels by 1.5m along Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula and large, destructive waves on the coast.
Rainfall of 25cm is expected to cause havoc in Florida, bringing flash flooding.
Emergency workers are still struggling to provide relief in the aftermath of Helene, which killed at least 230 people in several states across the US southeast.
Rescue and recovery efforts after Helene have been hit by a wave of politically motivated false claims ahead of the Nov 5 presidential election.
Among the litany of disinformation is the falsehood pushed by Republican candidate Donald Trump that funds have been misappropriated by his rival for the White House, Democrat Kamala Harris, and redirected toward migrants.
Deanne Criswell, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), dismissed the claims as false.
She also warned Monday that “these storms are bringing more water than they ever have and so while we have the wind risk, the water is what’s killing people”.