Florida Cities Inundated by Storm Surge as Hurricane Milton Makes Landfall
October 10, 2024
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Cities were hit with dangerous storm surges as Hurricane Milton made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday night.
Rapidly rising water levels were reported in multiple areas while the hurricane hit the coastline near Siesta Key in Sarasota County as a powerful Category 3 storm at around 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
Videos were quickly shared to social media of surges in the cities of Venice, which is located about 17 miles south of Siesta Key, and Punta Gorda, located over 50 miles southeast of Siesta Key in neighboring Charlotte County.
“Storm surge is absolutely pouring into Venice, Florida now as hurricane #Milton makes landfall,” storm chaser Bryce Shelton wrote while sharing a video to X, formerly Twitter.
“Surge has now crested the protective wall in Punta Gorda, FL and is now pouring into the city,” wrote storm chaser Brad Arnold while sharing a different video. “Conditions continue to get worse.”
People look out at surge waters flooding the street from their building after Hurricane Milton came ashore in the Sarasota area on October 09, 2024, in Fort Myers, Florida. People are waiting to assess the… People look out at surge waters flooding the street from their building after Hurricane Milton came ashore in the Sarasota area on October 09, 2024, in Fort Myers, Florida. People are waiting to assess the damage after the Cat 3 hurricane came ashore.
AFP/Getty Images
While catastrophic storm surges of up to 15 feet were predicted before Milton made landfall on Wednesday, it was not immediately clear whether the surges were as large as feared.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, who warned residents on Tuesday that they would “die” if they refused to evacuate, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that storm surges in her city would exceed those produced by Hurricane Helene but likely not match the worst predictions.
“We’re not gonna get the 15 feet that was predicted in the onset,” Castor said. “The prediction now is anywhere from 6 to 9 feet. If you recall, we had 4 to 6 feet for Hurricane Helene, so expect it a little bit higher than that.”
“Hopefully [people in Tampa] are just sheltering in the place right now,” she added. “Because the next few hours are gonna be rough here in Tampa.”
The National Weather Service (NWS) declared a flash flood emergency for an area that includes Tampa, Saint Petersburg and Clearwater on Wednesday night. The emergency was in effect until 2:45 a.m. on Thursday.
“Move immediately to higher ground,” reads a warning posted to X by NWS Tampa Bay. “This is a life threatening situation. Seek higher ground now!”
An additional NWS flash flood emergency was later issued for an area including Brandon, Lakeland and Palm Harbor until 4 a.m. on Thursday.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management urged residents to “not walk out into receding water in Tampa Bay” in a Facebook post at 9:23 p.m., warning that “the water WILL return through storm surge and poses a life-threatening risk.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said on Wednesday that it had “over 1,000 responders on the ground in Florida supporting Milton and previous disasters,” with “over 1,400 search and rescue personnel pre-staged to support Milton response efforts.”
Newsweek reached out for comment to FEMA via email on Wednesday night.
Milton was downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane about one hour after making landfall and is expected to continue to weaken as it makes its way east through Florida.
However, the hurricane is likely remain an extremely dangerous storm for those in its path until it eventually exits into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday.
Update: 10/9/24, 11:06 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with more information.
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