Hurricane Milton Devastates Florida’s Gulf Coast: What We Now Know

Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida as a Category 3 storm, bringing with it powerful winds, heavy rainfall and tornadoes.  All that, to much of the Gulf Coast, including all of those communities ALREADY battered by deadly Hurricane Helene.

By Thursday morning, Milton – weakened but still VERY dangerous – was moving off Florida’s east coast as a Category One storm – with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph according to the National Hurricane Center.   It was 75 miles east/northeast of Cape Canaveral around 8:00am.

Hurricane, Tropical Storm and Storm Surge Warnings were discontinued for Florida’s west coast – and Milton was expected to move farther from the peninsula – to the north of the Bahamas.  Milton was forecast to dump out as much as 18 inches of rainfall crossing the state, bringing the risk of catastrophic flooding.  In just 46 1/2 hours Milton went from forming as a “Tropical Storm” with 40 mph winds to a top-of-the-charts Category 5 hurricane.

Milton also grew so potent because it avoided high-level cross winds that often wreak havoc with storms especially during autumn – and as Milton neared Florida, it hit those winds and dropped in strength.

(Compiled Sources)