Federal forecasters say that Hurricane Milton strengthened into a Category 5 storm on Oct. 7 and is predicted to hit the Tampa, Florida, area by the evening of Oct. 9, with officials in western Florida issuing mandatory evacuation orders for hundreds of thousands of people.
As of Tuesday morning, the storm weakened to a strong Category 4, with 155 mph winds, officials say.
The agency warned on social media that if Milton stays on its current trajectory, “it will be the worst storm to impact the Tampa area in over 100 years.” In 1921, an unnamed hurricane caused significant damage.
“A storm surge of up to 11 feet damaged and destroyed a significant amount of the structures along coastal locations from Pasco county south through southwest Florida,” the weather service says of the 1921 storm on its website.
In that system, winds were estimated to be 120 miles per hour near the Tarpon Springs landfall point, the agency says, noting that “numerous power poles and trees were downed from the winds, roofs were badly damaged, and windows were blown out of structures.”
A Category 5 hurricane means that a storm has winds greater than 157 mph and is likely to cause complete roof failure on many homes and industrial buildings, according to the hurricane center.
As of Tuesday morning, Tampa Bay is under both a hurricane warning and a storm surge warning, as the National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecasts that it could be inundated with surges between three to four metres high.
The NHC said that peak storm surge levels would be between the Anclote River and Englewood, a stretch of about 100 miles that includes Tampa and various islands and keys.
"The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline," an update said.
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