Florida Hit With Multiple Tornadoes As Milton Nears

October 9, 2024 Climate Change, Weather

The Weather Channel reports:

H​urricane Milton will make landfall in Florida tonight into early Thursday where it poses a major threat to life and property as it hammers the state with destructive storm surge, devastating wind damage, potentially catastrophic flooding rainfall and several tornadoes.

Bands of heavy rain containing strong wind gusts are spreading across parts of the state well in advance of landfall. A​ tornado watch is in effect for the southern half of the Florida Peninsula until 9 p.m. EDT, including Miami, Tampa Bay and Fort Myers. Multiple tornadoes have been confirmed in southern Florida since this morning.

The latest National Hurricane Center forecast calls for storm surge to be as much as 9 to 14 feet above ground level if the peak surge coincides with high tide along the west-central Florida Gulf Coast.

The Tampa Bay Times reports:

If wind speeds become too dangerous and storm surge reaches as much as 5, 6 or 7 feet at two of St. Petersburg’s sewage plants, the city will make the call to shut one or both sites down late Wednesday or early Thursday.

St. Petersburg’s public works administrator, Claude Tankersley, said at a news conference Wednesday that the plant’s operators at the Northeast and Southwest plants would be unsafe with that much surge. He said there would be a 20- to 30-minute window between when the public is notified and when the plants are powered down.

In that event, residents in the area served by the plants should not flush toilets, take showers or put anything down the drain.

The Miami Herald reports:

As Milton approached the state, tornadoes sprung up across South Florida, including one that crossed directly over I-75 in western Broward Wednesday morning.

More were expected. Mike Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center, said the threat of tornadoes was greater than usual for most landfalling hurricanes, especially from Orlando to Lake Okeechobee.

Milton’s path and power — a picture-perfect buzzsaw blade on satellite image early Wednesday before growing more ragged later in the day — promised to leave a swath of damage across much of the central peninsula. There will certainly be widespread power outages, wiped-out coastal homes, and ripped-off roofs

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