‘Incredible, incredible hurricane’: Destructive forecast brings meteorologist to tears

Tampa, Florida: Fearful Florida residents streamed out of the Tampa Bay region ahead of what could be a once-in-a-century direct hit from Hurricane Milton, as crews worked furiously to prevent furniture, appliances and other waterlogged wreckage from the last big storm from becoming deadly projectiles in this one.

The preparations marked the last chance for millions of people in the Tampa metro area to prepare for lethal storm surges, ferocious winds and possible tornadoes in a place that has narrowly avoided a head-on blow from a major storm for generations.

“Today’s the last day to get ready,” said Craig Fugate, a former FEMA director who previously ran the state’s emergency operation division. “This is bringing everything.”

One of South Florida’s longest-running meteorologists, John Morales, broke down while delivering his forecast for Miami TV station WTVJ/NBC6.

“It’s just an incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane,” Morales said of Milton, closing his eyes and slightly shaking his head. “It has dropped. …”

Morales’s voice cracked and faltered as he continued: “… it has dropped 50 millibars in 10 hours” before adding: “I apologise. “This is just horrific.”

Morales later shared his forecast on social media platform X and gave an interview with The New York Times where he said several factors had led to his broadcast including the shock from the storm’s rapid intensification and the increasing number of extreme weather events.

He said he was also frustrated by society’s failure to mitigate pollution that is heating the planet and he was empathetic towards the people and nature that would experience the destruction of Hurrican Milton.

“It claims lives,” Morales told the Times. “It also wrecks lives. You have to feel sorry for the folks that are in this hurricane’s path.”

Governor Ron DeSantis said the state deployed over 300 dump trucks that had removed 1300 loads of debris left behind by Hurricane Helene by Tuesday afternoon (Wednesday AEDT).

When will Hurricane Milton hit Tampa?

After weakening slightly, Milton regained strength in the afternoon and became a Category 5 storm again. It was expected make landfall onWednesday night (Thursday morning AEDT) in the Tampa Bay area, which has a population of more than 3.3 million people. The 11 Florida counties under mandatory evacuation orders are home to about 5.9 million people.

“You do not have to get on the interstate and go far away,” DeSantis told a news conference, assuring residents there would be enough petrol to fuel their cars for the trip. “You can evacuate tens of miles. You do not have to evacuate hundreds of miles away.”

Members of the Florida Army National Guard check for any remaining residents in nearly deserted Bradenton Beach, Maria Island, where piles of debris from Hurricane Helene still sit outside damaged homes ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton.Credit: AP

What is the projected wind speed?

Milton is forecast to cross central Florida and to dump as much as 46 centimetres of rain with winds of 265 kilometres per hour, according to the National Hurricane Centre. That path would largely spare other states ravaged by Helene, which killed at least 230 people on its path from Florida to the Carolinas last last month.

The arrival of back-to-back hurricanes that rapidly intensified into mighty storms comes as climate change exacerbates conditions that are allowing them to thrive in warming waters. Milton is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which started June 1.

Higher than average sea-surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico have helped fuel the hurricane’s rapid intensification.

According to NASA Earth Observatory, rapid intensification takes place when a tropical cyclone’s maximum sustained wind speeds increase by at least 30 knots (55km/h) over a 24-hour period.

“Milton strengthened at nearly triple that rate, with winds increasing from 80 to 175 miles per hour in 24 hours from October 6–7,” the agency reported. Europe recorded its highest surface air temperatures on record during this year’s northern summer, averaging 1.54°C above the 1991-2020 average.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor issued increasingly dire warnings, noting that a 15-foot surge could swallow an entire house.

“So if you’re in it, basically that’s the coffin that you’re in,” she said.

Most of Florida’s west coast was under a hurricane or tropical storm warning as the system spun just off Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, creeping toward shore and sucking energy from the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters.

In Riverview, south of Tampa, several drivers waiting in a long line for fuel Tuesday morning said they had no plans to evacuate.

“I think we’ll just hang, you know, tough it out,” said Martin Oakes, of nearby Apollo Beach. “We got shutters up. The house is all ready. So this is sort of the last piece of the puzzle.”

At the Tampa airport, John Fedor and his wife were trying to catch a cab to a storm shelter after missing multiple flights home to Philadelphia. They had hoped taking a Caribbean cruise would bring them closer, but tensions were rising after they spent nearly $US1,000 on unplanned transportation and hotel rooms due to travel delays.

“We’re kind of like stranded here,” Fedor said.

President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Florida, and the White House announced he would postpone a trip to Germany and Angola to monitor the storm.

“This could be the worst storm to hit Florida in over a century,” Biden told reporters. “God willing it won’t be. But that’s what it’s looking like right now.”

The Florida Highway Patrol reported heavy traffic northbound and eastbound on all roadways and said state troopers were escorting fuel tankers to assist with petrol delivery.

Members of the Florida Army National Guard stage on a beach as they prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Milton, in Bradenton Beach, Florida.Credit: AP

In south-west Florida, the streets in the seaside town of Punta Gorda were still filled with furniture, books, toys and even a few hot tubs destroyed by Helene. Scott Joiner, who described bull sharks swimming in the flooded streets during that storm, said the city has been trying to pick up the trash but didn’t have enough time before Milton.

“Water is a blessing to have, but it is very deadly,” he said.

AP

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