AccuWeather forecasters are warning that Hurricane Milton's extreme storm surge and powerful winds could cause widespread devastation on the west coast of Florida.
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00:00John, this is a really dangerous storm, and again, this has really wrapped up here over
00:04the past 12 to 18 hours in the southwest Gulf of Mexico.
00:08So what's been contributing to its current status?
00:11It sure has.
00:12And we see people on the move on that live shot from Tampa, evacuations underway, which
00:17is very critical along the west coast of Florida, especially those areas susceptible to storm
00:22surge.
00:23This is going to be a life-threatening impact across many portions of Florida here in the
00:28coming days.
00:29All the factors coming together for this storm to intensify very rapidly, as it did this
00:34morning.
00:35Now a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale, and look, it's going to take a
00:39northeast turn, a very unusual track into the Tampa Bay area.
00:44And our hurricane experts are increasingly concerned about catastrophic impacts in the
00:51Tampa Bay area.
00:52We do not use those words lightly, and we're using such strong language because we're particularly
00:57concerned about the storm surge, about the devastating winds and the flooding rainfall
01:03from Tampa east along I-4 toward Orlando and Daytona Beach as well.
01:09And we've just nudged back the point of landfall, the timing of landfall to around 11 p.m. most
01:13likely on Wednesday.
01:14But it's all about the impacts of that storm surge, John, at least that's a huge story
01:18here.
01:19And the angle through which this storm is going to come in, especially dangerous for
01:22some of these concave areas of the coastline that are highly populated.
01:26It sure is.
01:27That's the risk here.
01:28We have many people in harm's way with this setup.
01:31That's why those evacuations along the coastal areas where storm surge is such a threat is
01:35such a big issue here.
01:38And there's going to be a long fetch of gulf water that's being directed.
01:42It's going to be an inundation right into the coastline and all those bays and inlets
01:47here along the west coast of Florida.
01:50And with a track near or directly north of Tampa Bay, that puts Tampa Bay in the northeast
01:57quadrant of the storm.
01:59And that is where the worst impacts are going to be.
02:01But don't let your guard down anywhere here along the west coast of Florida, all the way
02:05down to Port Charlotte and Fort Myers and Naples.
02:08Because as this graphic shows, even when Milton is off the Atlantic coast, the winds around
02:13the storm are still going to be pushing water of all places back into the west coast of
02:18Florida.
02:19So it's a prolonged and extreme storm surge.
02:22And certainly holding that high water up into Tampa Bay even at that time as well with that
02:27kind of a trajectory.
02:28So again, Mr. Porter, we have some huge impacts here.
02:31We haven't seen a storm quite like this really since the 1800s in the Tampa Metro with this
02:36trajectory.
02:37So so much has changed there with the coastline, with society and huge explosions of population.
02:42So what are we expecting regarding the storm surge by the numbers?
02:45Well, that's the problem is that there's so much.
02:47This is one of the most population dense areas of Florida, Tampa Bay, Bradenton, Sarasota,
02:54down to Fort Myers and Naples as well.
02:56And then the inland areas that are going to face those destructive winds and heavy rainfall
03:00as big concern in those in those dense populated areas along the I-4 corridor.
03:05But look at the numbers here.
03:07We're talking about a 15 to 20 foot, 15 to 20 foot storm surge, multiple feet.
03:13If you think about a building multiple feet high of water that can that will move into
03:19these bays and inlets and inundate anything in its path from Tampa Bay south toward the
03:25area near Venice and Naples.
03:28And then, of course, a six to 10 foot still life threatening storm surge into the Naples
03:32area.
03:33So this is a big problem.
03:34There will be dangerous storm surges as well along much of the east coast of Florida as
03:39well as the winds around the storm direct that water from the Atlantic toward the east
03:43coast of Florida as well.
03:44So look out for you in Jacksonville down toward the Space Coast as well.
03:48A big problem with storm surge in this particular storm.
03:52And we saw what happened just less than two weeks ago with a five, six, six and a half
03:57foot storm surge in some areas of the Tampa and Pinellas County area there near St. Pete.
04:03And that was a huge impact.
04:04If this storm indeed comes just barely north of the city and some of those Pinellas County
04:08beaches, we're looking at something that would far exceed what we saw late two weeks
04:12ago.
04:13Yes.
04:14And I want to highlight that.
04:15That is why we are talking about the worst case hurricane scenario for Tampa Bay with
04:20the storm moving just north of Tampa Bay and directing all that water into the Tampa Bay
04:26region.
04:27So, again, a 15 to 20 foot storm surge possible and AccuWeather local storm max of 23 feet
04:34in the hardest impacted areas.
04:35So that showcases just how dangerous that water is going to be.
04:38And I'm just going to urge everyone once again, if you live or if you have family members
04:43along those coastal areas, especially where there's a mandatory evacuation in place, please
04:49take that very seriously.
04:51You can save your own life or help save the life of somebody else by taking those evacuation
04:56orders seriously.
04:58And the wind, as you mentioned, John, we're going to be dealing with some long term power
05:02outages as well in many, many areas with tremendous tree fall that will accompany this
05:06storm in central Florida as well.
05:08Yes, this is a huge problem as well, because look at where the the core of this destructive
05:13wind goes right along the I-4 corridor, Orlando, right into your vicinity and then east toward
05:19Daytona Beach and areas along the east coast of Florida.
05:22So again, we're getting the most populated, densely populated part of the Florida peninsula
05:27here with the greatest wind impacts.
05:30And we're going to be talking about the risk for wind gusts between 100 and 120 miles per
05:34hour coming right in through that I-4 corridor.
05:37That's going to cause widespread property damage and lead to widespread and long lasting
05:43power outages.
05:44So if you live inland where storm surge is not a threat, but the flooding rainfall and
05:49the destructive winds will be a threat, please make sure you have a safe place to ride out
05:52the storm.
05:53You're going to want to be in the interior part of your home away from windows and also
05:57make sure that you have enough supplies to sustain yourself for several days in case
06:04you're not able to get around and power outages become a big problem as we're expecting.
06:08Yeah, you want some non-perishable food, something you can get along and get by without the help
06:13of refrigeration or the microwave and so forth.
06:16AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist John Porter, thanks again for that update, John.
06:19Good to be with you.
06:21All right.