BREAKING NEWS Hurricane Milton lashing Florida with tornadoes and wind. CNN NEWS
• Where will Milton hit? The strong Category 4 storm is forecast to make landfall overnight Wednesday as a slightly weaker major hurricane somewhere on Florida’s Central Gulf Coast, where it could be one of the most destructive storms on record. Exactly where it comes ashore could shift before landfall and alter where the most life-threatening storm surge occurs in the Tampa area and along Florida’s Gulf Coast. You can track Milton’s path with CNN’s storm tracker.
• Milton growing in size: A weaker Milton won’t mean less devastation, particularly with a larger storm. Over the past 24 hours, the tropical-storm force winds expanded from 105 miles to 125 miles from its center. This means its disastrous impacts will be felt over a much larger area. Tropical-storm force winds are expected to cover the entire width of the Florida peninsula.
• Time is running out: The storm’s outer bands have already arrived, and tropical storm-force winds and heavy rain will come in force by the afternoon. Florida officials said it was the “11th hour” to evacuate and urged residents to “get out” while there was still time Wednesday morning.
BREAKING NEWS Hurricane Milton lashing Florida with tornadoes and wind. CNN NEWS
Top federal officials warn conditions will soon “deteriorate rapidly” as Milton approaches
From CNN’s Ella Nilsen
Top federal weather and emergency officials warned conditions in Florida will soon start to deteriorate rapidly and urged residents to take Hurricane Milton seriously.
“The conditions are going to rapidly deteriorate over the next few hours, especially where landfall is going to occur along the west coast,” National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said Wednesday.
Brennan said it is still tough to predict exactly where Milton will make landfall.
“Even as close as we are to landfall, it’s not really possible to tell exactly where that worst (storm) surge will occur,” Brennan said. “It’s one wobble away from shifting 10 or 20 miles so that’s why we conveyed that risk across such a large area.”
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell said in addition to 1,000 federal personnel stationed in Florida, the Biden administration is adding an additional 1,200 search and rescue personnel from various federal agencies, 500 ambulances, and 30 high-water vehicles, helicopters and boats to assist with rescues after the hurricane hits.
