Florida's populous west coast, still recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago, is preparing for Hurricane Milton to make landfall on October 9.
The National Hurricane Center predicts the storm could make landfall near the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, home to more than 3 million people. The area has yet to clear the debris Helene left behind as it left town.
Beach in Progreso, Mexico as Hurricane Milton approaches, October 7. Photo: Reuters
With maximum sustained winds of 250 km/h, Hurricane Milton has been downgraded from a Category 5 storm to a Category 4 storm, according to the latest announcement from the US National Hurricane Center early on the morning of October 8.
Although it is expected to fluctuate in intensity, Milton is still forecast to be an extremely dangerous storm when it makes landfall in Florida, meaning catastrophic damage is expected, including power outages that could last for days.
Milton became the third-strongest hurricane on record in the Atlantic, the Hurricane Center said, as it transitioned from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in less than 24 hours.
The storm's west-to-east track is also unusual, as gulf storms typically form in the Caribbean Sea and make landfall after moving west and turning north.
“It’s very rare for a hurricane to form in the western Gulf, move east and hit the west coast of Florida. This is significant because the path of the storm plays a major role in determining where the largest waves will be,” said Cornell University atmospheric scientist Jonathan Lin. The Hurricane Center predicts storm surges of 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 meters) along a stretch of the coast north and south of Tampa Bay.
Jamie Rhome, deputy director of the National Hurricane Center, said Milton is expected to grow stronger before making landfall on Oct. 9, putting hundreds of miles of coastline in the storm's danger zone.
In Florida, counties along the West Coast have ordered people in low-lying areas to seek higher ground. Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg, said it had ordered more than 500,000 people to evacuate.
Today (October 8) is the last day for people in the storm-affected areas to evacuate. Local officials have raised concerns about traffic jams and long lines at gas stations.
Relief efforts are underway across the southeastern United States after Category 4 Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on September 26, killing more than 200 people and causing billions of dollars in damage across six states.
Ngoc Anh (according to Reuters)
Source: https://www.congluan.vn/state-florida-o-my-lai-sap-don-sieu-bao-milton-suc-gio-250-km-gio-va-hon-1-trieu-nguoi-phai-so-tan-post315810.html
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