Hurricane Milton makes landfall, slamming into Florida with destructive winds, catastrophic storm surge

Hurricane Milton made landfall arsenic a Category 3 tempest with 120 mph winds connected Wednesday, slamming into Florida's westbound seashore earlier churning its mode eastward crossed the halfway of the state.

The catastrophic landfall follows hardly 2 weeks aft Hurricane Helene, which battered Florida earlier causing devastation successful North Carolina. Florida residents person spent the interim boarding up windows and evacuating their homes successful mentation for Milton.

"Milton has the imaginable to beryllium 1 of the astir destructive hurricanes connected grounds for west-central Florida," the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday.

The tempest is expected to walk implicit Florida and into the Atlantic done Wednesday nighttime and into Thursday morning. 

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Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene damage (National Weather Service)

Milton poses a menace of a historically heavy tempest surge, arsenic good arsenic upwind gusts good implicit 100 mph implicit the adjacent 36 hours. Storm surge forecasts on the cardinal occidental seashore are predicting 10 to 15 feet of h2o topped with devastating waves driven by hurricane-force winds, according to FOX Weather.

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"Yes, you mightiness person ‘been done hurricanes before,'" FOX Weather Hurricane Specialist Bryan Norcross said. "But you weren't done the 1921 tempest that enactment h2o implicit overmuch of Pinellas County, oregon the 1848 hurricane that enactment 15 feet of Gulf h2o wherever downtown Tampa is today."

A Lee County Sheriff's serviceman patrols the streets of Cape Coral, Fla., arsenic dense rainfall falls up of Hurricane Milton, Wednesday. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has activated thousands of National Guard members who are lasting by to behaviour hunt and rescue pursuing the storm. President Biden's medication has besides pre-deployed resources and hundreds of personnel.

Biden declared Florida a catastrophe country up of Milton's landfall to facilitate FEMA's preparations and response.

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Broken inferior poles downed by beardown upwind gusts are seen arsenic Hurricane Milton approaches Fort Myers, Fla, Wednesday.  (Reuters/Ricardo Arduengo)

The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned aboriginal Wednesday evening that the bluish eyewall of Hurricane Milton had started to dispersed onshore on the Florida Gulf Coast, and told residents to "shelter successful spot arsenic these highly unsafe hurricane-force winds overspread the region."

Public Safety Information Manager for Florida’s Incident Support Team James Lucas warned that upwind conditions volition forestall rescuers from redeeming lives arsenic Hurricane Milton makes landfall and wallops the state.

An evident tornado caused by Hurricane Milton tore the awning disconnected a 7-Eleven convenience store, successful Cape Coral, Fla., Wednesday. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

"Weather conditions volition deteriorate truthful rapidly that rescue workers cannot get in," Lucas told Fox News Digital’s Gabriele Regalbuto. "That means that instrumentality enforcement officers are not going to beryllium capable to respond to immoderate emergencies … arsenic the tempest is pushing done astatine 100 mph."

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Lucas said the beingness information of archetypal responders and citizens is paramount.

"We’re not going to beryllium capable to marque it into those affected areas during the storm," Lucas said. "That’s wherefore the Mayor of Tampa, the Governor of Florida is asking radical successful those areas to evacuate."