Hurricane Milton live updates: tornado hits south Florida; Tampa mayor warns single-story homes will turn into ‘a coffin’
"Tornado seen touching down in Everglades area; mayor of Tampa warns residents they are ‘going to die’ if they stay behind amid threat to life warnings
Hurricane Milton: where we are so far today
As we near midday on the US east coast, here’s a recap of the key updates today so far:
A tornado has touched down in the Everglades area of south Florida and the National Weather Service has warned anyone in the area to take shelter. The forecasters had warned that tornados are likely on Wednesday and a tornado watch is in place until 9pm ET.
Hurricane Milton now expected to make landfall late Wednesday. That’s according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center, which says the storm will make landfall along the center of Florida’s west coast. The hurricane center had previously said landfall could come late Wednesday or early Thursday. Milton was set to be a category 4 storm with 130 mph winds upon landfall.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis held a press conference on Wednesday morning where he said Hurricane Milton would “pack a major, major punch and do a lot of damage”. He denied there were fuel shortage despite some gas stations running out. He added: “We are prepared and we will respond.”
Tampa mayor Jane Castor issued a dire warning on ABC’s Good Morning America, telling anyone in a single-story home who is not evacuating that the “that home that you’re in ultimately will be a coffin.” Castor also bluntly told residents that if they’re remain in an evacuation area, “you’re going to die”.
More than half of Florida’s school districts are closed in anticipation of Hurricane Milton. State education officials say some school buildings will be used as shelters for the storm throughout the affected region. Among those closed is the Hillsborough County school district, where Tampa.
Colleges and universities also canceled classes, with some saying they would switch to remote learning later this week if they’re able to resume classes. Some schools outside the storm’s path, including the University of Miami, planned to take precautions by shifting to remote learning through Thursday.
Airports in Florida were halting flights on Wednesday as the hurricane neared.
Tropical storm warnings were issued as far north as Savannah, roughly 200 miles from the projected path of the hurricane’s center.
A storm surge of 2ft to 4ft was forecast for Georgia communities including St Simons Island, home to nearly 16,000 people, and Tybee Island, which has population of 3,100. Wind gusts of up to 45 mph could break off large tree limbs, topple shallow-rooted trees and cause scattered power outages, according to the National Weather Service.
“Tampa has long been regarded as the most vulnerable metropolitan area in the United States to storm surge flooding,” says Dr. Steven Godby, an expert in natural hazards in Nottingham Trent University’s. School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences. “Much of it is low-lying and the relatively shallow water offshore makes it vulnerable.”
The last major hurricane to affect the Tampa Bay region made landfall in October 1921, bringing a similar storm surge. Godby says it’s worth noting that the population at that time was around 160,000 and has now swelled to over 3m.
“Authorities having been stressing that people living along this coast have no living memory of this kind of storm, need to evacuate if instructed to do so,” he adds."
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