Hurricane Milton hit Siesta Key as a cat-3 storm with hurricane winds 35 miles from center, and Milton departs Florida near Cape Canaveral as a cat-1 storm with hurricane winds extending 35 miles from center.
Tampa Bay narrowly avoided a direct hit as Milton made landfall 70 miles south. Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, at 8:30 pm Wednesday as a Category 3 storm. At landfall, the storm was producing maximum sustained winds of 120 mph while moving toward the northeast at 15 mph.
As the sun rise Hurricane Milton leaves a wake of tremendous damage behind him across the entire state. Assessments are now being made.
At 500 AM EDT (0900 UTC), the center of Hurricane Milton was located near latitude 28.5 North, longitude 80.5 West. Milton is moving toward the northeast near 18 mph (30 km/h) and this general motion is expected to continue today, followed by a turn toward the east tonight. On the forecast track, the center of Milton will move away from Florida and to the north of the Bahamas today.
Maximum sustained winds are near 85 mph (140 km/h) with higher gusts. Gradual weakening is expected, but Milton is forecast to become a powerful extratropical low tonight. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles (55 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 205 miles (335 km). (more)
If you are in the area let us know how you are doing.
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Left Pinellas County after sealing up the doors with silicon caulk; will not be back until Monday. Anything that needs cleaning can be cleaned after that. Spouse is most worried about the boat.
Smart prevention…
Thought of if staying, still silicon doors etc. and
make a window as escape/entry hatch.
Sandbags only filter the flood waters coming in.
I just returned to Bay Pines/Madeira Beach. Somehow, we dodged another one. There are many trees down and almost all intersections are out , but not the major structural damage we all anticipated.
In north Punta Gorda. My entire neighborhood was spared except for minor items blowing off houses. Hallelujah!
The SE wind all afternoon blew water from Charlotte Harbor and when it switched to more S {8pm ish} really piled it into Lemon Bay.and surrounding creeks.
Downtown Englewood flooded at least a foot higher than a couple weeks ago {Helene}.
Manasota Key is toast.
Time for a real disaster relief fund…
Of, by and for the People.
Trust God. Fear not.
Farther inland than previous storms this time. About an hour SW of Orlando.
Lots of debris in the area, many limbs down and a few trees. Fences too, of course. About what we anticipated. Power outage, but expected and prepared for.
Good friend lives 20 miles
NE of Tampa. Did not lose power, cellular, internet or cable service.
Was happy to share the ios18 satellite texting info with her prior to the storm. She was thankful and updated. Also, she could not believe the wonderful storm prep updates provided by SD. Sent her three CTH hurricane posts and now she is hooked.
TY SD.
Retired Magistrate here: Just heard from my cousin in Clearwater, Florida who was unable to evacuate due to his medical conditions. He stated that Clearwater is a mess; roads are flooded, trees and power lines down everywhere and he probably won’t have power for a month. He has congestive heart failure along with numerous other issues so he is hoping for cooler weather because it is easier on him.
He has a lady who checks on him but she can’t get to him due to flooding. He has a third floor condo and is bedroom carpet is wet, but other than that his condo is OK. So very happy to hear from him. Probably won’t hear from him again until he gets power back; he has a land line. He called me on his emergency cell phone with a limited number of minutes.
Thanks be to GOD my cousin survived!
Thank you for the update.
Praise to the Lord for sparing both your friend and mine, who lives in Tampa.
Prayers that he gets power back much sooner. I bet he does.
And God said, “Have I got your attention yet, People?”
Wichita Lineman – Glenn Campbell. Fearless heroes… Think of them every time we have a hurricane come through.
Snow and ice storms too. I have been blessed where I live to have a great crew.
My Grampa Robert was a lineman out of Virginia.
I kid you not, his name was Robert Lee Jordan.
here’s that Port Canaveral tide gage record showing a large seiche that apparently was excited in the harbor / Banana River Estuary yesterday
it’s got a period around 1 hour and an initial amplitude of about 2 feet
dunno what might have done that, perhaps a passing tornado
My son lives in Tarpon Springs. They just got back after evacuation. No damage and power already back on. God’s power certainly stayed Mother Nature’s or the US government’s hand.
I should have known Milton was going to make a sharp right turn to steer away from Tampa. Tampa is the home of McDill AFB, the home of USCENTCOM that oversees all US military operations in the middle east, and USSOCOM that oversees all military special operations. Plus a bunch of other federal agencies of the three-letter variety have a presence there.
Hurricanes are not allowed to hit Tampa, any more than they would be allowed to hit Langley VA.
No major hurricane has hit Tampa in a century. Neither has one hit Honolulu (home of US Pacific Command.) Nor has one gotten a direct hit on Miami ever since US SOUTHCOM moved there after departing the Panama Canal Zone. All those places are supposedly very high risk. Curious.
Interesting. And I like the way you are thinking.
Last night I thought all the people praying is what turned the volume down on the storm to a CAT 2 landfall. That is the truth for me. I was awake until 3 am or so last night worrying.
If that storm had hit Tampa as a CAT 5, last night I could only think that there was the potential to loose my entire immediate family (I’m the only MAGA). but have lots of cousins who are with me on that.
Interesting to me today was that we had a beautiful clear blue sky here in western PA without a chemtrail in sight. However, in the weeks after Hurricane Helene, chemtrails were being sprayed with impunity. Tic tac toe’s all across the sky. Now that humans are questioning what is going on, I guess the command to the spewers of this crap has been to turn down on the Captain Obivious .
Someone please ask C. Harris what a chemtrail is. Hahaha
Forgo to write all in my Florida family are OK. They had a “dark and stormy night>” Exhausted they are and waiting for power.
I keep thinking about the blizzard during the caucus.
About 12 miles South of Tampa in Hillsborough County. NE eye wall caused many downed trees and rain some local flash flooding. Lost power and cell service just before midnight Wednesday night. On again off again cell service began around 7:30 Thursday and getting more steady. Most homes faired well, lots of shingles lost, fencing and trees down in the community. No estimate on power restoration from TECO. Could have been much worse if not for the shear that broke the storm down and landfall South of Tampa. Thankful and praying for those that are dealing with more than no power.
It is so great to read how most are doing all right. It is so much better than reading Florida was blown off the map into the ocean.
Still praying for those that have a wet mess to clean up and I am sorry for those that lost their life. Don’t know that I will ever be a fan of DeSantis but he is excellent at managing and preparing for storms.
Meteorologists are getting death threats due to all the misinformation and conspiracies.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/meteorologists-death-threats-hurricane-milton-214003547.html
That article is nothing but climate and misinformation propaganda
Thank God!
First time ever experiencing an EYE WALL direct hit here in Sarasota, was eerily calm for about 20 minutes then she fired up again. Lucky we still have power and no sever damage from water or wind. Prayers to my fellow Floridians!
So the mil decided not to go thru with a total destruction of Florida. Nobody noticed how odd the whole episode was? The water spout was a dead giveaway – it’s the same thing we saw with the billionaire yacht that mysteriously capsized.
It’s time to come to terms with weather engineering being a very real issue with our covert military. This is how they’ve pulled off the crazy climate change too. I fear they also may have earthquake capabilities (Fukushima was prob the first time they tried it out).
Thank you for a clear wrap-up on what happened… we lost internet and all ability to monitor the storm’s progress.
Once I got back online, I saw that MSM did a crappy job on reporting thr after effects. They were hoping for worse.
I know we were blessed by the wind shear that split Milton in two before it it. Grateful to Hod and prayers and blessings to all for recovery efforts.
Reporting from Treasure Island. Lots of downed trees and wires, but thank God, no more flood damage. Our house weathered the wind without issue since we have storm shutters, a metal roof, and a wind-load garage door, but the inside is still a wreck from Helene. No potable water or power, no internet, and cell phone signal is spotty. We’re fortunate to be staying with friends inland.
I know Hurricane Milton was bad for Florida but, (you know there was a but because, everyone has one), there are people here in SC, including myself and family in McCormick county, that are on day 15 without power thanks to Hurricane Helene. I’ve applied to fema for some of my tax dollars back, due to house damage but was denied. Ive been spraying Clorox mold and mildew remover on my ceiling because of humidity, and my roof is leaking because a top of a tree came into my bedroom via the roof. I have brown water in my light fixtures but, fema says I’ve suffered no damage, (imagine that). They referred me to a small business loan program….SBA. We do have well water and a propane generator that we are running 5 hours a day and, the SC Ntl Guard has provided MRE’s, (that are pretty good with garlic and onion powder added, especially the vegetarian lasagna). I’m trying to file an insurance claim for my roof and half the vinyl siding but, (after 20 years of $1200 to $1400 a year premiums, my insurance is asking me if my fema claim has been approved). Hey fema, where is my $750 disaster relief payment???? Yall got your $ through my taxes but, when I need some of it back, I get a “you have been denied assistance” email. I believe I would feel better about the whole ordeal if fema would just have said, “hey there dedicated taxpayer, we already have your money so you can kiss our ass!!!