Milton reached hurricane status by mid-day Sunday and was expected to intensify rapidly before hitting the Gulf Coast mid-week, bringing the possibility for life-threatening conditions to the state less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene left widespread and fatal devastation across the Southeast.
While forecast models vary widely, the most likely path suggests Milton could make landfall Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area and remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida into the Atlantic Ocean, forecasters said. That would largely spare other southeastern states ravaged by Hurricane Helene, which caused catastrophic damage from Florida into the Appalachian mountains and a death toll that rose Sunday to 230 people.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that while it remains to be seen just where Milton will strike, it’s clear that Florida is going to be hit hard — “I don’t think there’s any scenario where we don’t have major impacts at this point.”
“You have time to prepare — all day today, all day Monday, probably all day Tuesday to be sure your hurricane preparedness plan is in place,” the governor said. “If you’re on that west coast of Florida, barrier islands, just assume you’ll be asked to leave.”
As of 2 p.m. Sunday, Milton was rapidly intensifying into a hurricane and was about 815 miles west-southwest of Tampa with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Milton was eastbound at about 6 mph Sunday, and was expected to approach the west coast of the Florida Peninsula by midweek.
“A dangerous hurricane is on track to make landfall along the West Coast mid week,” according to the National Weather Service’s Tampa Bay area X account, which warned of the possibility for a life-threatening storm surge. “Major impacts can be expected to extend far from the center.”
Milton was forecast to rapidly intensify in the coming days and become a major hurricane on Monday, according to the administration, which noted hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 20 miles from the center of the storm and tropical-storm-force winds extend up to 80 miles outward.
DeSantis expanded his state of emergency declaration Sunday to 51 counties, and said Floridians should prepare for more power outages and disruption, making sure they have a week’s worth of food and water and are ready to hit the road. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, meanwhile, coordinated with the governor and briefed President Joe Biden Sunday on how it has staged lifesaving resources.
“I highly encourage you to evacuate” if you’re in an evacuation zone, said Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. “We are preparing … for the largest evacuation that we have seen, most likely since 2017, Hurricane Irma. “
The state has prepared emergency fuel sources and EV charging stations along evacuation routes, Guthrie said. People who live in homes built after Florida strengthened its codes in 2004, who don’t depend on constant electricity and who aren’t in evacuation zones, should probably avoid the roads, he said.
Rainfall with localized totals up to 12 inches was expected across the Florida Peninsula and Keys through Wednesday night, creating the risk of flash and major flooding, according to the administration.
All classes and school activities in St. Petersburg’s Pinellas County preemptively closed Monday through Wednesday as Milton approached, and Tampa opened city garages for free so people could park their cars safely from the next floodwaters.
As many as 4,000 National Guard troops are helping state crews to remove debris, DeSantis said, and he directed that Florida crews dispatched to North Carolina in Helene’s aftermath return to the state to prepare for Milton.