Hurricane Milton is just hours away from making landfall on the coast of Florida, with the northern edge of the Hurricane beginning to move onshore.
At 7pm US Eastern Time (10am in Australia) Hurricane Milton’s centre was just 50km from Sarasota, and 225 kilometres southwest of the larger city of Orlando.
Hurricane Milton was moving north-east at 24 kilometres per hour, meaning it will likely make landfall around lunchtime in Australia.
LIVE UPDATES: Hurricane Milton smashes tornado record before landfall
The Northern Eyewall of the storm is beginning to move onshore of the Florida Gulf Coast near Tampa and St. Petersburg, the National Hurricane Centre said.
Extreme wind warnings are now in effect for that region.
Residents were warned to shelter in place as “extremely dangerous hurricane-force winds” spread across the area.
Life-threatening storm surges and damaging winds are expected for parts of central and southwestern Florida.
Sustained winds of 98km/h and a gust of 124km/h were reported at the mouth of Tampa Bay.
Other top wind gusts along the coast include 109km/h at Venice, 106km/h at St Petersburg, and 96.5km/h at Sarasota.
The National Hurricane Center stressed that it was not certain where Milton’s centre would come ashore because the storm’s path might “wobble,” but the entire Tampa Bay region and points south were at grave risk.
Why are scientists saying this is a weird storm season?
Milton is just the latest system, in a storm season scientists say is the weirdest they’ve ever seen.
Forecasters predicted a busy Atlantic hurricane season, and it began when Beryl became the earliest storm on record to reach Category 5 status.
But from Aug. 20 — the traditional start of peak hurricane season — to September 23 it was record quiet, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
Then, five hurricanes popped up between September 26 and October 6 — more than double the old record of two. On Sunday and Monday, there were three hurricanes in October at the same time, which had never happened before, Klotzbach said.
In just 46.5 hours, Hurricane Milton went from forming as a tropical storm with 64 kmph winds to a top-of-the-charts Category 5 hurricane.
With hurricanes disrupting the lives of millions in the U.S., some might wonder if it’s possible to control extreme weather events. But scientists say hurricanes are too powerful for that, and climate change is providing more fuel than ever for storms like Helene and Milton.
READ MORE: Storm now so large it is creating its own tornadoes
How bad is the damage expected to be?
Florida’s Gulf Coast is especially vulnerable to storm surge.
Helene came ashore about 290 kilometres north of Tampa and still caused drowning deaths in the Tampa area due to surges that were about 1.5 to 2.5 metres above normal tide levels.
With Milton, forecasters warn of a possible 2 to 3 metre storm surge in Tampa Bay, and just south of there, from Anna Maria Island to Boca Grande, a surge of up to 4 meters.
In St. Petersburg, located on Tampa Bay, officials said residents should prepare for extended power outages and the possible shutdown of its sewage system. Mayor Ken Welch said it wasn’t a storm that the area would recover from quickly: “We have a long road ahead of us.”
Milton is forecast to cross central Florida and dump as much as 46 centimetres of rain while heading toward the Atlantic Ocean, according to the hurricane centre.
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