After churning across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico earlier this week, the Milton Made landfall near SarasotaFlorida, Wednesday night around 8:30 as strong Category 3 Hurricane with 120 mph winds. Storms – and many The tornado it spawned — ripped off the roof of the house and a Major baseball stadium And more left 3 million people Without power across the peninsula. Several casualties reported so far.
Sarasota is just south of Tampa, which was spared the hurricane and extreme storm surge. Notably, Milton’s winds actually caused a so-called storm surge to form in Tampa Bay, when the sea level receded. But Tampa, the region’s largest city, still saw severe flooding: Milton dumped an astonishing 17 inches of rain on the region on Wednesday, causing what some described as 1,000 year flood event.
Sarasota, meanwhile, has the least record 10 foot storm surgewhich sent seawater rushing into the city. Waves are usually D deadly Part of a hurricane. It can flood neighborhoods and destroy houses and drown people. Prior to landfall, Milton spawned an outbreak of tornadoes, prompting the National Weather Service to issue hundreds of tornado warnings.
As of Thursday morning, Milton is still one Category 1 storm Just off the east coast of Florida, though, it is expected to weaken today as it moves farther offshore.
What is particularly pleasing is that Milton – The Ninth Atlantic Hurricane What officials predicted would be an especially active season — hitting parts of Florida still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Helen. Helen made landfall just two weeks ago, killing more than 200 people across the South and Appalachia and a dozen in the Tampa Bay area. Milton ordered a historic evacuation from West Florida.
On the one hand, Hurricane Milton is extremely unusual. As I wrote earlier this week, the hurricane intensified incredibly quickly, transitioning from a tropical storm to a Category 5 in about 24 hours. Along with the wind speed is pushing 180 miles per hour Early in the week and very low pressure, it was one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic.
Then again, extreme storms like Milton are exactly what the world’s leading climate scientists have been predicting for years. Burning fossil fuels not only warms the air but also warms the oceans, and warm water is the key ingredient for super-strong hurricanes. The threat becomes greater when you consider this More and more people Moving to coastal Florida.
Hurricane Milton’s toll will become clearer in the coming days, and we’ll be here to keep you in the loop. In the meantime, here are a few stories that really helped me understand the threat posed by superstorms and how we can better prepare for them.
As Milton descends, Florida prepares for uncharted territory
The events behind Hurricanes Helen and Milton spelled disaster for Florida communities that were just beginning to rebuild and recover from Helen’s damage. A climatologist at the Florida Climate Center explains this uniquely devastating moment and why we should find some reassurance as emergency responses and preparations become better and more efficient.
Just how devastating is home insurance?
Insured losses from natural disasters around the world already topped $60 billion in the first half of the year, 54 percent above the 10-year average — and that’s before adding in estimated billions of dollars in claims from Hurricanes Helen and Milton. Now in Tally, as storms worsen as the weather warms, insurers are raising rates at eye-popping figures or refusing to insure some homeowners altogether.
Is FEMA messing up?
Milton’s arrival comes as communities continue to recover from Hurricane Helen, which caused flooding, day-long power outages and fatalities in six states, including Georgia, North Carolina and Florida. In the wake of Helen, many questions have been raised about the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s role in getting survivors the help they need. So, what does a good government response to dire natural disasters look like in a time of increasing danger driven by climate change?
Donald Trump’s many, many lies about Hurricane Helen have been debunked
Since Hurricane Helen flooded parts of western North Carolina late last month, former President Donald Trump has seized on the tragedy to perpetuate lies about the federal response, sowing chaos and confusion as he repeatedly and falsely suggested the federal government was purposefully neglecting areas with Republicans. . voters, that it is providing emergency aid to immigrants rather than disaster response, and that it is giving only $750 in aid to hurricane victims. Experts say confusion can harm relief efforts and prevent survivors from seeking help.
This story was originally published byToday, explainedVox’s flagship daily newsletter.Sign up for future editions here.
