Unconfirmed number of deaths as Hurricane Milton crosses Florida, leaving wake of destruction

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Unconfirmed number of deaths as Hurricane Milton crosses Florida, leaving wake of destruction

时间：2024-10-11 11:05 来源：未知作者：admin 阅读：次

In short:

Hurricane Milton hit Florida's west coast south of Tampa, with millions of people under evacuation orders and without power.

A number of deaths have been reported in one eastern county so far, with the local sheriff saying "we have lost some life".

What's next?

The hurricane is now crossing the state's east coast, bringing more destruction to areas already hit by Hurricane Helene two weeks ago.

Hurricane Milton has crossed the Florida peninsula with violent intensity, spawning tornadoes, lashing the region with rain and destructive winds, and causing an unspecified number of fatalities.

The hurricane made landfall as a category 3 hurricane at about 8:30pm on Wednesday local time on the state's west coast near Tampa Bay, making its way across the state overnight before weakening to a category 1 storm as it reached the east coast and headed towards the Atlantic Ocean.

However, state officials have stressed that the extent of the damage is yet to emerge, and millions of people along Florida's coastline remain under evacuation orders, with the storm still producing "hurricane-force winds" and threatening to deliver life-threatening surges of seawater to waterfront communities.

"We have lost some life," St Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson told WPBF News after a series of tornadoes hit an area near Fort Pierce, though he wouldn't say how many people were killed.

The storm made landfall at Siesta Key, south of the city of Tampa, in what was nominally a once-in-a-century direct hit on the region.

Storm debris after Hurricane Milton in Sarasota, Florida.

The National Weather Service said flash flooding had occurred in the Tampa Bay area, including St Petersburg, where more than 41 centimetres of rain had fallen.

Heavy rains were also likely to cause flooding inland along rivers and lakes.

About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane even made landfall, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens, said Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

Milton had been a category 5 storm — the highest level — with maximum sustained wind speeds of 260 kilometres per hour as of Wednesday morning, but was downgraded to category 3, then category 2 after making landfall by the United States National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane Milton made landfall south of Tampa and is expected to continue east towards the Atlantic Ocean.

It was later downgraded to a category 1 storm, with wind speeds of up to 150kph.

But despite its fluctuating strength, the agency said it remained "an extremely dangerous major hurricane".

Fuelled by unusually warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, the storm's impacts covered an area that is home to more than 3 million people, with 2 million people estimated to be without power.

The region was already battered by Hurricane Helene from two weeks ago, which killed at least 230 people across six states.

Residents told to 'just hunker down'

Boats at Marina Jack following Hurricane Milton in Sarasota, Florida.

Earlier, officials issued dire warnings to Florida residents to either flee or face grim odds of survival.

"This is it, folks," said Cathie Perkins, the emergency management director in Pinellas County, which sits on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay.

"Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now."

By late afternoon, however, some officials said the time had passed for such efforts, suggesting that people who stayed behind should hunker down instead.

By the evening, some counties announced they had suspended emergency services.

Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, said it was too late to leave for those who had not evacuated.

"At this point, it's too dangerous to evacuate safely, so you have to shelter in place and just hunker down," DeSantis said upon announcing the landfall.

The kitchen of a house is destroyed by a passing tornado as Hurricane Milton approaches Florida.

Towns deserted as millions flee storm path

The National Weather Service confirmed at least five tornadoes in South Florida had touched down by early Wednesday afternoon.

The four bridges spanning Tampa Bay were closed before the storm was due to make landfall, according to the Florida 511 website.

A drone view shows debris caused by a tornado as Hurricane Milton approaches Fort Myers.

Nearly everyone who decided to flee appeared to have done so, as most streets in nearby St Petersburg were nearly deserted by midday on Wednesday.

Most causeways connecting the Gulf barrier islands to the mainland were also shut, stranding anyone who decided to ride out the storm despite pleas from officials.

In Orlando, many residents said they had confidently ridden out previous hurricanes, but Milton's rapid intensification and warnings from officials spurred them into taking unusual precautions for the inland city.

Waves crash over Havana's seafront boulevard El Malecon as Hurricane Milton passes close to the Cuban coast.

Jim Naginey, a 61-year-old homeless man who has lived there for nearly three decades, said he survived previous hurricanes on the streets but decided to seek shelter during Milton.

"This one seems different," he told Reuters.

"After seeing what happened last week in North Carolina, it seems that unexpected disaster can hit in places not used to it. That's why I decided to seek shelter here."

President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris urged residents to follow local officials' safety recommendations at a White House briefing, announcing the hurricane event had been declared a federal disaster.

"It's literally a matter of life and death," Mr Biden said.

Rising sea levels pictured in Hillsborough Bay, Tampa.

Emergency preparations

Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), on Wednesday said she would travel to Florida and remain there after the storm to help coordinate recovery efforts.

FEMA has moved millions of litres of water, millions of meals and other supplies and personnel into the area. None of the additional aid will detract from recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene, she said.

"I want people to hear from me directly, FEMA is ready," she said.

Trucks have been running 24 hours a day to clear mounds of debris left behind by Helene before Milton potentially turns them into dangerous projectiles, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said.

A couple fills trash bags with water to use as a flood barrier after a passing tornado affected the area ahead of Milton.

About 2.8 per cent of US gross domestic product was in the direct path of Milton, said Ryan Sweet, chief US economist at Oxford Economics.

Airports across Florida were largely closed, including Orlando and Tampa.

Major Florida theme parks were also shuttered ahead of the storm, with Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld all closing their doors late on Wednesday.

Nineteen hospitals had been evacuated, the Florida Hospital Association said. Mobile homes, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities faced mandatory evacuation.

An apparent tornado caused by Milton tore the awning off a 7-Eleven convenient store Cape Coral.

Milton became the third-fastest intensifying storm on record in the Atlantic, growing from a category 1 to a category 5 in less than 24 hours.

"These extremely warm sea surface temperatures provide the fuel necessary for the rapid intensification that we saw taking place to occur," said climate scientist Daniel Gilford of Climate Central, a nonprofit research group.

"We know that as human beings increase the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, largely by burning fossil fuels, we are increasing that temperature all around the planet."

Milton is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which started on June 1.

Tampa Bay has not been hit directly by a major hurricane since 1921.

Reuters/AP

By：https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-10/hurricane-milton-floods-florida-category-one/104453826

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