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https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-milton-tampa-florida-08bde4b9c29460f471d43c6512821c93
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A mighty Hurricane Milton flung rain and gusty winds at the Tampa Bay area Wednesday on its steady and potentially catastrophic march toward the west coast of Florida, where officials sounded urgent warnings for residents to evacuate or face grim odds of survival.
The National Hurricane Center stressed that it was not certain exactly where Milton’s center would come ashore Wednesday night because the storm’s path might “wobble,” but that the entire Tampa Bay region and points south were at grave risk. Tropical storm-force winds were just off the coast around midday, the center said.
“This is it, folks,” said Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, which sits on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay. “Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.”
Milton has fluctuated in intensity as it approaches Florida but was a strong Category 4 hurricane at midday Wednesday and was expected to remain a major storm when its center hits land and then plow across the center of the state, forecasters said. Tampa Bay, near the top of a long stretch of coastline that could be in the bull’s-eye, has not taken a direct hit from a major hurricane in more than a century.
Residents should not feel relief because of indications Milton’s center might come ashore south of Tampa, Perkins said: “Everybody in Tampa Bay should assume we are going to be ground zero.”
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A mighty Hurricane Milton flung rain and gusty winds at the Tampa Bay area Wednesday on its steady and potentially catastrophic march toward the west coast of Florida, where officials sounded urgent warnings for residents to evacuate or face grim odds of survival.
The National Hurricane Center stressed that it was not certain exactly where Milton’s center would come ashore Wednesday night because the storm’s path might “wobble,” but that the entire Tampa Bay region and points south were at grave risk. Tropical storm-force winds were just off the coast around midday, the center said.
“This is it, folks,” said Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, which sits on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay. “Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.”
Milton has fluctuated in intensity as it approaches Florida but was a strong Category 4 hurricane at midday Wednesday and was expected to remain a major storm when its center hits land and then plow across the center of the state, forecasters said. Tampa Bay, near the top of a long stretch of coastline that could be in the bull’s-eye, has not taken a direct hit from a major hurricane in more than a century.
Residents should not feel relief because of indications Milton’s center might come ashore south of Tampa, Perkins said: “Everybody in Tampa Bay should assume we are going to be ground zero.”
