Hurricane Milton is threatening to develop even stronger, maybe reaching Category 4 energy, and perhaps fire the largest departure in seven times as it aims for Florida ‘s , Gulf Coast , and , Tampa.
A state and area that are still reeling from Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago could be in for billions of dollars in injury and additional pain as a result of the wind.
Milton’s best breezes reached 85 miles per hour, away from 45 miles before, meaning it’s fast intensifying. That condition, in which a hurricane’s winds improve by 35 miles in 24 hours or less, may have dangerous consequences for individuals in its course, the , U. S. National Hurricane Center , said. Due to landfall , Oct. 9, the storm is on course for 145-mph breezes. It’s likely to hit shore a little weaker but also able to tear roofs off houses, jump trees and produce long-lasting power interruptions.
Some laptop models say Milton may be a Category 5 as it nears , Florida. In addition, while small then, Milton will probably become a big storm at landfall,” with pretty harmful impacts spread out over a big area”, said , Eric Blake, a forecaster at the center.
Governor , Ron DeSantis , has declared an emergency in 51 counties and said the entire , Florida , island on the Gulf area has potential to experience significant effects from storm surge, which will probably pick up sometime in the afternoon of , Oct. 9.
At a press conference, DeSantis stated that “you’re going to have potentially significant power outages,” noting that utilities are using resources for power restoration because the outages are likely to be worse than what Helene caused. ” We also have almost 6, 000 ambulances ready to assist”, he said.
In a statement Sunday, President , Joe Biden , said he had been briefed on the storm’s potential impact and federal efforts to position life-saving resources.
Mexico , has issued a hurricane watch on the north coast of the , Yucatan Peninsula, which Milton is forecast to graze.
” I urge Floridians to finalize your storm preparations now, enact your plan” , , Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the state ‘s , Division of Emergency Management, said in a video briefing. ” I highly encourage you to evacuate. The state emergency response team is getting ready for the biggest evacuation that is most likely to occur since Hurricane Irma in 2017, and I have the team working.
Deanne Criswell, administrator of the , Federal Emergency Management Agency, said , FEMA , was “absolutely ready” for Milton.
” We have started planning for this days ago, even before it formed. We know that it’s headed straight towards Florida”, she said on ABC’s This Week.
” We will move more resources in there to support their needs, but we have a lot of people in , Florida , already”, she added.
Milton would be the second major hurricane to hit the , U. S.  , in two weeks following Helene, which killed at least 225 people across the South and caused as much as$ 250 billion in losses and damages by AccuWeather’s estimates. So far, 13 storms have formed across the , Atlantic Ocean , in the six-month hurricane season and four hurricanes have hit the , U. S., including Helene and Beryl in July that shut down power in , Houston, the fourth-most populous US city.
As Milton moves eastward across the Gulf, it will be fueled by very warm water and almost no adverse atmospheric conditions,  , Jack Beven, a senior hurricane specialist at the , National Hurricane Center, said in a forecast analysis, though it may weaken somewhat from dry air and wind shear as it nears the shore.
For Milton,” the worst-case scenario” would be for the storm to hit the , Florida , coast just north of , Tampa, said , Brandon Buckingham, a meteorologist at commercial-forecaster , AccuWeather Inc.  , Hurricanes spin counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, so in such a spot Milton would push all of its worst storm surge and winds into , Tampa Bay, endangering the city and region. More than 3.2 million people live in the , Tampa-St. Petersburg , area.
The effects may be even worse because Helene’s winds and surge wiped out many beaches along Florida’s west coast, leaving the area more vulnerable to Milton’s power.
Milton will likely push hurricane-strength wind gusts across Florida’s citrus-growing areas when it comes ashore on , Oct. 9, said , Ryan Truchelut, president of commercial forecaster WeatherTiger.
Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at , Enki Research, on Sunday predicted an economic impact of between$ 50 billion and$ 75 billion. The peak winds are staying south of , Tampa , and , Orlando, but if the storm moves only about 50 miles north, his models show that it could become a$ 150 billion storm. ” We are on a knife edge here”, he wrote.
Across the entire Gulf of , Mexico, water temperatures are running anywhere from 1F to nearly 5F above normal, said , Isaac Longley, a meteorologist with AccuWeather. Milton will cross the warm Loop Current in the Gulf of , Mexico , before it reaches , Florida, a patch of water that also boosted Hurricane Helene as it neared the state. The warm water will” serve as fuel” for Milton, turning it likely into a Category 4 hurricane by morning of , October 8.
The Loop Current is an area of warm water that travels up from the , Caribbean , into the Gulf of , Mexico, then exits via the Florida Straits and flows into the Gulf Stream.
Longley said Milton will likely make landfall near , Tampa Bay , on around  , 5 p. m.  , Oct. 9 , as a Category 3.
The hurricane center stresses it’s still too early to say for certain where Milton will strike, but residents along the shoreline in , Florida , need to prepare.
” Regardless of the details, there is increasing confidence that a powerful hurricane with life-threatening hazards will be affecting portions of the , Florida , west coast around the middle of this week”, Beven said.
In addition to Milton, forecasters are also tracking hurricanes Kirk and Leslie in the far , Atlantic. Kirk is forecast to make landfall , Oct. 9 , in , France , as post-tropical storm. The storm is also producing large swells across the ocean, affecting the , U. S.  , and , Canada , as well as islands in the , Caribbean.
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