Just 11 days after Hurricane Helene slammed into the western coast of Florida, another major storm — Hurricane Milton — has intensified into a very dangerous Category 4 hurricane and is taking aim at western Florida.
Forecasters from the National Hurricane Center said Milton rapidly strengthened into a strong Category 3 hurricane early Monday morning, then exploded into an even stronger Category 4 hurricane just a few hours later, with its top sustained winds now blowing at a fierce 155 mph.
Fueled by very warm water in the Gulf of Mexico, Milton is expected to become even more intense, reaching Category 5 strength later Monday, the NHC warned.
Category 5 storms are the strongest on the five-level hurricane intensity scale, packing extremely destructive winds of 157 mph or greater. Category 4 hurricanes are also extremely powerful, with top sustained winds ranging from 130 to 156 mph.
Milton’s center is spinning in the western Gulf of Mexico, about 720 miles southwest of Tampa, Florida, and moving east-southeast at a pace of about 9 mph, the NHC said in an updated advisory issued shortly before 11 a.m. Monday.
Hurricane watches, tropical storm watches and storm surge watches have already been issued for much of the Florida Gulf coast, with the NHC describing Milton as “an extremely dangerous” hurricane.
In addition to highly destructive winds and a massive storm surge, Hurricane Milton is expected to pound wide swaths of the Florida Peninsula and Florida Keys with 5 to 10 inches of rain, and localized pockets of 12 to 15 inches through Wednesday night.
“This rainfall brings the risk of considerable flash, urban and areal flooding, along with the potential for moderate to major river flooding,” the NHC said in its storm advisory.
Many areas of western Florida are still struggling to recover from the widespread damage inflicted by Hurricane Helene, which made landfall along the state’s Big Bend region on Sept. 26 before moving north and west and causing catastrophic damage in parts of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Helene has been blamed for more than 200 deaths across the southeastern U.S., with hundreds of people still reported missing in towns where raging rivers and streams washed away houses, stores and other buildings.
In some areas of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, powerful walls of water destroyed sections of major highways, local roads and bridges, hampering travel, rescue and relief efforts.
2 other hurricanes spinning
In addition to Hurricane Milton, two other hurricanes are currently spinning in the Atlantic hurricane basin.
Hurricane Kirk is in the north-central Atlantic, with maximum sustained winds of about 75 mph. “Although gradual weakening is expected, Kirk is forecast to become a large and strong extratropical low during the next couple of days” as it moves in a northeastward direction, the NHC said.
While Kirk poses no wind or rain threat to the United States, the hurricane is “causing large swells and rip current risks along the U.S. East Coast,” the NHC noted.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Leslie is spinning about 1,120 miles west of the southernmost Cabo Verde islands with top sustained winds of 85 mph. Leslie is expected to weaken to a tropical storm during the next two days as it continues to move in a northwestern direction. Forecasters say the storm poses no direct threat to any land, including Bermuda.