THE treacherous Hurricane Milton is set to double in size before it begins to terrorise Florida on Wednesday night.
Officials have told over a million people to evacuate their homes in the coming hours as near 150mph winds are expected to bring destruction to areas still reeling from Hurricane Helene.
A tattered American flag sits in front of debris from Hurricane Helene as families await the arrival of Hurricane Milton on Wednesday[/caption]
Highways have been at a standstill as residents evacuate amid serious weather warnings[/caption]
Residents in Florida have boarded up their homes as they prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Milton[/caption]
The potentially record-breaking winds from Milton have started to grow in size this morning as its strength continues to fluctuate.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned of the damning predictions today, saying: “Milton is still a relatively compact hurricane, but the wind field is expected to continue to grow in size as it approaches Florida.
“The official forecast shows the hurricane and tropical storm-force winds roughly doubling in size by the time it makes landfall.”
The NHC added Milton will be “an extremely dangerous hurricane when it reaches shore”.
The storm was downgraded from a Category 5 to a Category 4 hurricane by Tuesday morning but is still expected to make landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast tomorrow evening.
I can say this without any dramatization whatsoever: if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die
Jane Castor
It’s tropical storm-force winds extended around 80 miles from its center on Monday, but the wind field surged in size to just over 100 miles as of this morning.
The NHC and experts have warned that the bigger Milton gets the farther from its center its life threatening winds will reach.
Six million people have been put under hurricane-watch warning along with the million already told to flee.
The storm is set to be the worst to impact the Tampa area in more than 100 years if it stays on the current track, according to the National Weather Service.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor warned the city’s almost 400,000 residents to urgently evacuate.
She told CNN: “I can say this without any dramatization whatsoever: if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die.
“This is something that I have never seen in my life, and anyone who was born and raised in the Tampa Bay area has never seen this before.”
Officials in the Tampa Bay area say they will be shutting off water supplies ahead of Hurricane Milton’s arrival.
As Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described the hurricane as “ferocious” and warned the damage will be “really significant”.
Orlando meteorologist Noah Bergren described the storm as “nothing short of astronomical.”
US President Joe Biden echoed these concerns today as he told all residents who sit in the path of Milton to evacuate immediately.
Biden labelled the choice “a matter of life and death”.
The hurricane is set to be one of the most devastating seen in Florida for decades[/caption]
Traffic cams caught the gridlock as people tried to flee coastal areas in Florida[/caption]
Residents are still reeling from the issues caused by Hurricane Helene just 12 days ago with debris still piled up on the streets[/caption]
The current leader of the US was even forced to cancel his overseas trip ahead of the storm’s landfall, according to NBC News.
Biden was scheduled to depart for Berlin on Thursday and then head south to Angola before returning to the United States on October 15.
The government of the Bahamas has also issued a tropical storm warning for the northwestern areas of the island.
The Interstate 75 northbound was stacked up bumper to bumper while moving at just 7mph on Monday afternoon.
Thousands of terrified residents try to flee the state with motorways left at a standstill.
Almost all of Florida’s west coast is under a hurricane warning as the Category 4 storm and its 155mph winds crept toward the state at a chilling 9mph.
Forecasters warned of a possible 8-to-12-foot storm surge in Tampa Bay.
The strongest Atlantic hurricane on record is the 1980s Allen.
It reached incredible wind speeds of 190mph as it moved through the Caribbean and Gulf before striking Texas and Mexico.
Milton’s center could come ashore Wednesday in the Tampa Bay region, which has not endured a direct hit by a major hurricane in more than a century.
What is a hurricane and how do they form?
A HURRICANE is another name for a tropical cyclone – a powerful storm that forms over warm ocean waters near the equator.
Those arising in the Atlantic or eastern Pacific are called hurricanes, while those in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean are dubbed typhoons or cyclones.
North of the equator they spin anticlockwise because of the rotation of the Earth, however, they turn the opposite way in the southern hemisphere.
Cyclones are like giant weather engines fuelled by water vapor as it evaporates from the sea.
Warm, moist air rises away from the surface, creating a low-pressure system that sucks in air from surrounding areas – which in turn is warmed by the ocean.
As the vapour rises it cools and condenses into swirling bands of cumulonimbus storm clouds.
The system grows and spins faster, sucking in more air and feeding off the energy in seawater that has been warmed by the sun.
At the center, a calm “eye” of the storm is created where cooled air sinks towards the ultra-low pressure zone below, surrounded by spiraling winds of warm air rising.
The faster the wind, the lower the air pressure at the center, and the storm grows stronger and stronger.
Tropical cyclones usually weaken when they hit land as they are no longer fed by evaporation from the warm sea.
But they often move far inland – dumping vast amounts of rain and causing devastating wind damage – before the “fuel” runs out and the storm peters out.
Hurricanes can also cause storm surges when the low air pressure sucks the sea level higher than normal, swamping low-lying coasts.
Residents fill up sandbags in Tampa ahead of Hurricane Milton’s expected landfall[/caption]
Shelves at a grocery store in Kissimmee are empty of bottled water[/caption]
Residents put up plywood in preparation for Hurricane Milton[/caption]
Biden has been forced to postpone a presidential trip due to the hurricane threat[/caption]
Tropicana Field has set up shelter and beds for residents who need help as the storm hits[/caption]
