Hurricane Milton | Floridians take the hit

After moving into category 5 on Tuesday – the maximum on the Saffir-Simpson scale –, Milton decreased in power on Wednesday, just before hitting Florida. With winds reaching 205 km/h, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced at 8:30 p.m. Milton had made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane near Siesta Key in Sarasota County.

Milton was then reclassified as category 2, a little over an hour after making landfall. The speed of its winds fell to 175 km/h. It is forecast to remain a hurricane and move across the state from west to east.

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Even before it made landfall, heavy rains and tornadoes swept through South Florida, the beginnings of the monster. The National Weather Service said it had received more than two dozen reports of tornadoes or tornado-related damage.

Several people were killed at a seniors’ residence due to a tornado that struck Fort Pierce on the east coast Wednesday afternoon, according to the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office.

Milton is expected to be “one of the most destructive hurricanes in more than a century in Florida,” US President Joe Biden warned earlier in the day.

Covering a larger area than before, despite weakening winds, the hurricane could raise water up to 3.6 meters high in Tampa Bay and up to four meters further south, between Sarasota and Fort Myers.

The Tampa Bay region, home to more than 3.3 million people, has not been hit directly by a major hurricane in more than a century.

“Stay at home”

Authorities continued to issue mandatory evacuation orders Wednesday in 15 Florida counties, with a total population of about 7.2 million people.

Then, after urging people to flee, emphasizing that it was “a matter of life and death,” their message suddenly changed late in the afternoon.

“Unless you really have a good reason to leave at this point, we advise you to stay home,” Polk County Emergency Management Director Paul Womble said in a public update.

You will have to “weather the storm where you are,” Pasco County officials also announced.

From Tampa to Fort Myers, in the area where Milton must make landfall, the time was no longer for evacuation, but for confinement on site, at home or in centers provided for this purpose.

West Coast cities have taken on the appearance of ghost towns.

Ghost towns

Tropical storm force winds began hitting the coast as early as Wednesday afternoon.

Our team on site in Lakeland was able to see that the deserted streets were already swept by wind and rain, even though the hurricane itself had not yet made landfall.

Disney World theme parks were closed at midday, as was Universal Orlando. Museums moved their works to the upper floors of their buildings in anticipation of flooding.

Tampa and Sarasota airports were shut down, as well as public transportation. Major bridges were closed one by one, including the famous Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which spans the mouth of Tampa Bay.

The authorities ended up declaring that the roads, on which cars crowded just hours before, were now considered unsafe for traffic. As of 5:15 p.m., only first responders were still expected to be circulating in Sarasota County.

Emergency services at a standstill

The emergency services of the different counties finally ceased their interventions, the roads were no longer passable.

Authorities warned that anyone remaining on the scene must now fend for themselves and notify a loved one or neighbor of their situation, as first responders could not risk their lives attempting rescues at the height of the storm.

Phone alarms began ringing around 7 p.m. in St. Petersburg, warning citizens to take shelter “RIGHT NOW.”

Shortly before 8 p.m., Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a press conference: “The storm is here.”

In the heart of the storm

In Sarasota, a few miles from where Milton made landfall, the roaring winds suddenly calmed around 8 p.m., and a worrying calm settled in, reports a journalist from New York Times. Outside, the crickets began to sing and the frogs to croak. It was no longer raining. People came out to marvel at this calm. Then, shortly after 9 p.m., the winds picked up again.

Around 9:15 p.m., more than a million homes were without electricity.

A flash flood warning was issued for several cities as Milton dumped torrential rains on the Tampa Bay area. Images broadcast by American media show flooded streets and submerged vehicles. In particular, around 400 mm of rain fell in St. Petersburg.

Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert said in the evening that she received a call from Joe Biden, who offered federal support to storm-hit communities. “He understands that this is an unprecedented hurricane and it will take a lot of help from the federal government to help Sarasota recover,” she said in a statement. The day before, the US president canceled a diplomatic trip abroad so he could oversee his administration’s response to the storm.

With Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press and the New York Times.