Storm surge from Hurricane Milton is rapidly increasing in southwest Florida

The National Hurricane Center said that on Wednesday, Hurricane Milton, a powerful Category 4 storm, was making landfall in the Gulf of Mexico and was headed for Florida's central west coast. A series of violent supercell storms started to move across the southern peninsula of the state as a result of the hurricane, which is predicted to reach landfall late tonight.

Tornado warnings have been issued for several cities by weather agencies in Miami and Tampa Bay, complementing the hurricane and storm surge advisories that have already been in effect in many of the same locations.

Before 8 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Milton's sustained wind speeds decreased to 155 mph—just 1 mph below the Category 5 mark—after exploding into an explosive, mammoth storm with powerful winds exceeding 180 mph. It had been clocked at 160 miles per hour earlier in the morning, when forecasters had called it a "catastrophic" hurricane. That was a slight decrease in speed.

After that, the wind slowed down somewhat and has been steady since this morning. Around 1 p.m., winds of 145 mph were reported by forecasters; before Milton reaches the shore, some more weakening is anticipated. But even so, they warned that Milton will be very dangerous.

Milton, according to the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay, is "a historic storm for the west coast of Florida" and may be the worst to hit the area in over a century.

Storm surge in southwest Florida is increasing as Hurricane Milton approaches Florida's west coast. By this evening, some places may experience surges of more over ten feet.

Currently, 2.76 feet of water have flooded over normally dry land in Naples, putting the city into moderate flood stage. Since midday, this has risen by over three feet.

At five o'clock in the evening, Fort Myers was under two feet of water on normally dry land.

Because of the Milton's landfall and the tide's subsequent transition to high tide later tonight, surge levels will rapidly rise this evening.

Since Hurricane Milton's center is currently only 50 miles from Sarasota, winds are starting to pick up throughout Florida's west coast.

In the previous hour, the National Hurricane Center reported sustained winds of 58 mph and gusts of 77 mph at the mouth of Tampa Bay in the Egmont Channel.

A spokesman for Duke Energy Florida stated that Hurricane Milton might cause up to a million power outages in the state's service area.

According to spokeswoman Logan Stewart, at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, that figure might be greater if electrical structures are destroyed.

She said that 16,000 Duke Energy Florida staff are prepared to deploy and provide customers' power back as soon as the situation is safe.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris strongly cautioned Americans about what the president is calling "the storm of the century" many times on Wednesday as Hurricane Milton plowed toward Florida.

“To the people of Florida and all affected states, we’ve got your back,” Biden said. “We’ve got your back, and Kamala and I will be there for as long as it takes to rescue, recover and rebuild.” He also denounced misinformation about the hurricane response efforts as “un-American.”