HURRICANE MILTON: STORM SURGES HIT FLORIDA, OVER 3 MILLION LOSE POWER

Thu 10 October 2024:

Hurricane Milton has weakened further and is now a Category 1 hurricane, according to the US National Hurricane Center’s (NHC) latest advisory.

The storm struck Florida as a Category 3 storm late on Wednesday after weakening from a Category 5 storm, leaving more than three million people without power and causing an unknown numbers of deaths.

The hurricane is pounding cities with ferocious winds and rain, whipping up a barrage of tornadoes and forcing hundreds of thousands of coastal residents to evacuate inland.

US President Joe Biden warned earlier Milton is expected to be one of the “most and worst destructive hurricanes to hit Florida in over a century”.

The storm came less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene hit the region, which has not suffered a direct hurricane strike in more than 100 years.

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Reports of multiple collapsed cranes in St Petersburg

The National Weather Service says it has received reports of multiple collapsed cranes due to high winds in St Petersburg, about 80km (50 miles) south of Siesta Key in Florida.

St Petersburg Fire Rescue confirmed one collapse about six blocks from the city’s pier. There were no reports of injuries.

The crane was at the site of a 515-foot-tall (157-metre) luxury high-rise building under construction that is being billed as one of the tallest buildings on the west coast of Florida. It was scheduled to be completed in summer, 2025.

Multiple people rescued from under debris, overturned vehicles after reports of tornadoes in Palm Beach County

Multiple residents in Palm Beach County were rescued after tornadoes reportedly touched down in the area on Wednesday evening, authorities said.

Some of those rescued were trapped under debris or stuck in vehicles that were overturned due to the strong winds, according to the Palm Beach County Fire Rescue.

Emergency 911 calls started around 5 p.m. on Wednesday and continued for nearly an hour, according to fire rescue.

“Our crews on the scene reported several damaged homes, vehicles picked up and moved, and debris all over the area,” Fire Rescue said in a post on Facebook.

Fire officials urge residents to stay off the roads in the area as they work on removing debris.

More than 3 million people without power: Tracker

More than 3 million people in Florida are without power as of 3:58am (07:58 GMT), according to Poweroutage.us, which tracks supplies.

The worst-affected areas are on its west coast, especially Hardee, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte and Hillsborough.

Only Glades, Palm Beach county, Lake Okeechobee under storm warning

National Weather Service Miami-South Florida has said on X that as of 5am (09:00 GMT), only portions of Glades and Palm Beach counties as well as Lake Okeechobee remain under a tropical storm warning for the gusts.

Hurricane still producing damaging winds and heavy rains: NHC

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has shared a few key messages on X:

1. There is a danger of life-threatening storm surge along the coast from east-central Florida northward to southern Georgia, where a storm surge warning remains in effect.

2. Damaging hurricane-force winds, especially in gusts, will continue for a few more hours in east-central and northeastern Florida. Residents are urged to remain in an interior room and away from windows.

3. Heavy rainfall across the central to northern Florida Peninsula through this morning continues to bring the risk of considerable flash and urban flooding along with moderate to major river flooding, especially in areas where coastal and inland flooding combine to increase the overall flood threat.

5 am EDT – Hurricane #Milton moving off the coast of east-central Florida. Still producing damaging hurricane-force winds and heavy rains. Here are the Key Messages. Go to https://t.co/tW4KeGe9uJ for details. pic.twitter.com/w14GGYpPDL

— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) October 10, 2024

Hurricane moving off Florida’s east coast: NHC

The National Hurricane Center says Milton is moving off Florida’s east coast. “Still producing damaging hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall in east-central Florida,” it said on X.

Rainfall of 200-350 mm is expected across central to northern portions of the Florida peninsula on Thursday.

“This rainfall will continue to bring the risk of catastrophic and life-threatening flash and urban flooding, along with moderate to major river flooding,” the hurricane agency said.

Climate change ‘supercharging’ hurricanes: Researcher

Oliver Carpenter, director of Environmental Risk, Resilience, a University of Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies spinout, has told Al Jazeera that climate change is affecting hurricane activity in the North Atlantic.

“[It is] supercharging them to be more destructive and increasing the risk of major damage. Tropical cyclones occur naturally, but climate change is fueling warmer ocean and air temperatures which is driving more intense, larger, and longer-lasting storms,” he said.

“This is a non-linear effect with small changes in temperatures leading to large changes in wind speed and rainfall. Even minor increases in wind speed and rainfall can result in significantly higher destruction. For example, damage caused by hurricanes scales with the cube of wind speed.

“This brings into sharp focus the preparedness of coastal communities and resilience to weather such extreme storms.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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