Category 5 Hurricane Barrels Toward Florida as Time Runs Out To Evacuate

Millions in Florida are bracing for a potentially catastrophic punch from major Hurricane Milton, which threatens a historically deep and dangerous storm surge to a large swath of Florida’s west coast along with wind gusts well over 100 mph during the next 36 hours.

Milton regained Category 5 strength Tuesday evening, a day after becoming among the strongest hurricanes on record in the Atlantic basin. When it reaches the Florida coast, it is still forecast to be a major hurricane.

“It’s worth emphasizing that this is a very serious situation,” the National Hurricane Center warned on Tuesday. “Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida.”

State officials have been scrambling since Monday to get millions off vulnerable coastlines in what is described as the largest mass evacuation in Florida since Hurricane Irma in 2017. Storm surge forecasts along the central western coast are predicting 10–15 feet of water topped with devastating waves driven by hurricane-force winds. Those levels — significantly higher than the damage wrought just last month by Hurricane Helene — would surpass anything seen in over a century in the Tampa Bay area.

“Yes, you might have ‘been through hurricanes before,'” FOX Weather Hurricane Specialist Bryan Norcross said. “But you weren’t through the 1921 storm that put water over much of Pinellas County, or the 1848 hurricane that put 15 feet of Gulf water where downtown Tampa is today.” (Read more from “Category 5 Hurricane Barrels Toward Florida as Time Runs Out To Evacuate” HERE)

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