Hurricane Milton will make landfall in Florida tonight into early Thursday where it poses a major threat to life and property as it hammers the state with destructive storm surge, devastating wind damage, potentially catastrophic flooding rainfall and several tornadoes.
“The track of Hurricane Milton continues to be a worst-case scenario for the Tampa Bay region southward to Charlotte”, the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay said in a briefing Wednesday morning.
Milton is a Category 4 hurricane packing winds up to 130 mph as of 2 p.m. EDT. It is centered 150 miles southwest of Tampa and is tracking to the northeast at 16 mph.
Bands of heavy rain containing strong wind gusts are expected to begin spreading across parts of the state well in advance of landfall.
A tornado watch is in effect for the southern half of the Florida Peninsula until 9 p.m. EDT, including Miami, Tampa Bay and Fort Myers. Multiple tornadoes have been confirmed in southern Florida since morning.
