Hurricane Milton intensified in the Gulf of Mexico today, transitioning into a Category 5 storm ahead of its scheduled landfall in Florida on Wednesday.
According to combined media reports, the storm was a Category 1 hurricane on Sunday evening before rapidly gathering strength the following day. The storm had estimated winds of about 160 miles per hour as of 12:00 p.m. EDT, when it was located 700 miles southwest of Tampa.
Milton is expected to decline in strength when it reached Florida, but it is also forecast to dump to 10 inches of rain on the state.
Roughly 5,000 National Guard troops have been mobilized to prepare for the storm, with an additional 3,000 set to be activated before Milton makes landfall. Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 51 counties and encouraged residents in the state’s western coastal areas to prepare for evacuations. The governor also has ordered landfill and dump sites to remain open around-the-clock to accept debris collected from Hurricane Helene.
Up to 15 million people are under flood watches across the Florida Peninsula and 11 million are at risk for tropical tornadoes. The National Weather Service office of Tampa Bay warned that coastal Gulf counties including Sarasota, Pinellas and Lee Counties to prepare for “catastrophic wind damage.”
Tampa International Airport will suspend operations on Tuesday morning while St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport will close after the final scheduled flight of Tuesday takes off.
Milton comes less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane, leaving up to 227 dead in six states from its destructive path.
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