(VOVWORLD) - Hurricane Milton was forecast to make landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday in Florida's Gulf Coast as an enormous Category 5 storm.
 Satellite image of hurricane Milton on October 7th, 2024 before it enters Florida, US (Photo: Reuters/VNA) |
At 4PM on Tuesday, the eye of the storm was nearly 800km southwest of the city of Tampa, moving northeast at 15 km/h with maximum sustained winds of 260 km/h.
The United States National Hurricane Center has forecast storm surges — an abnormal rise of sea level — of 3m to 4.5m along the coastline north and south of Tampa Bay, and heavy rainfall, followed by flash flooding.
So far, 5 million people in Florida have been ordered to evacuate. The Florida National Guard has mobilized 5,000 troops to assist with the response, with an additional 3,000 expected to be deployed before the storm makes landfall.
US President Joe Biden said Tuesday he is postponing a planned trip to Germany and Angola to stay at the White House to monitor Hurricane Milton.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, Milton is an exceptional hurricane for the month of October. This year's warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico helped Milton swiftly become a powerful hurricane, with the US National Hurricane Center calling it the third-fastest intensifying Atlantic storm on record, shifting from a tropical storm to a Category 5 storm in less than a day.