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Florida
Hurricane Milton Live Updates: Extreme Wind Warning Issued For Tampa As Eyewall Moving Onshore
Topline
Hurricane Milton is approaching Florida’s Gulf Coast, where millions have been told to evacuate as forecasters warn it could be be “one of the most destructive hurricanes on record” for the west-central part of the state.
Dan Jones points toward a destroyed roof in his backyard after a tornado hit in Fort Myers, Florida … [+]
Key Facts
7 p.m. EDT, Oct. 9 — The “northern eyewall” of Milton was moving into the Tampa Bay area, with forecasters urging those in the area to “shelter in place.”
Milton is located about 35 miles west-southwest of Sarasota and is moving northeast at 15 mph.
6:36 p.m. EDT, Oct. 9 — The National Weather Service issued an extreme wind warning for Pinellas, Hillsborough and Manatee counties in the Tampa Bay area as “extreme winds, associated with the eyewall of Hurricane Milton, were moving onshore,” telling those in the warning area to “Treat these imminent extreme winds as if a tornado was approaching and move immediately to the safe room in your shelter.”
6 p.m. EDT, Oct. 9 — Hurricane-force wind gusts of 77 mph have been recorded at a WeatherFlow station at Egmont Channel at the mouth of Tampa Bay, about 15 minutes from St. Petersburg, according to the National Hurricane Center.
4 p.m. EDT, Oct. 9 — The NHC warned tropical-storm-force winds and heavy rain had reached the western coast of Florida, and urged anyone in a tornado watch area to be ready to quickly shelter (see below).
11:30 a.m. EDT, Oct. 9 — Tampa’s Sunshine Skyway Bridge closed to all traffic as wind speeds pick up.
11:12 a.m. EDT, Oct. 9 — Waffle House announced dozens of its locations in Tampa, Fort Myers, Orlando and beyond would be closed starting Wednesday afternoon, marking Milton as a “red” on the federally recognized “Waffle House Index” (see below).
A hurricane warning is in effect for the west coast of Florida from Bonita Beach at the southern tip of the state to the Suwannee River near the panhandle, for the East Coast from the St. Lucie/Martin County Line northward to Ponte Vedra Beach near Jacksonville and for most inland portions of central and north-central Florida, including Orlando.
A storm surge warning is up for the west coast of Florida from Flamingo to Yankeetown, including Charlotte Harbor and Tampa Bay and the Atlantic coast from Sebastian Inlet, Florida, to Altamaha Sound, Georgia, including the St. Johns River.
Hurricane Milton is expected to bring 6 to 12 inches of rain, with localized totals up to 18 inches, across parts of the Florida Peninsula and the Keys through Wednesday night, which could cause “life-threatening flash, urban and areal flooding,” according to the NHC.
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What Time Will Hurricane Milton Make Landfall?
The National Hurricane Center said Milton will likely make landfall as a major hurricane near or just south of the Tampa Bay region Wednesday night and will move off the east coast of Florida on Thursday afternoon.
Crucial Quote
“I’ve said many times that (if) you want to pick a fight with Mother Nature, she’s winning 100 percent of the time,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said. “And individuals that are in these, say you’re in a single-story home. Twelve feet is above that house. So, if you’re in it, you know, basically that’s the coffin you’re in.”
What Is Storm Surge And Where Could It Be The Worst?
Storm surge is the abnormal rise of seawater level caused by a storm. The NHC warned the combination of storm surge and the tide will cause areas that are normally dry near the coast to be flooded. From Anna Maria Island to Boca Grande, the storm surge could be nine to 13 feet above the ground. The surge is forecast to reach eight to 12 feet between Boca Grande and Bonita Beach, and could also reach those heights in Charlotte Harbor. For Tampa Bay, six to nine feet of surge is expected.
Where Have Tornado Warnings Been Issued?
Numerous tornado warnings were issued Wednesday afternoon in southern Florida and across the Interstate 95 corridor. Tornado watches are in effect for most of central and southern Florida through Wednesday night. The NHC noted a “risk of strong tornadoes” will continue through Wednesday evening.
What Have Politicians Said About Hurricane Milton?
President Joe Biden addressed the country from the White House Tuesday morning and called Hurricane Milton “a matter of life and death.” He encouraged Florida residents in the path of the storm to evacuate “now” and postponed a planned international trip to Germany and Angola “in order to oversee preparations for and the response to Hurricane Milton.” Vice President Kamala Harris and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have been in a strange he-said-she-said about the incoming storm, with Harris accusing DeSantis of not taking her calls and “playing political games” DeSantis said Harris “has no role in this” and that he’s been communicating just fine with Biden, who also said he has been in touch. Biden said he gave DeSantis his personal phone number and told him to call if there is anything the federal government can do to help. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said in an interview with CNN, “I can say without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re going to die.” Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday afternoon told CNN even if the category of the storm changed, “that is not actually a downgrade in terms of the danger and the dangerous potential of it,” urging Floridians to not rely on the designation “to their detriment.”
How Is Travel To Florida Impacted By Hurricane Milton?
Tampa International Airport closed at 9 a.m. Tuesday with plans to reopen “as soon as it is safe” later this week and Orlando International Airport closed at 8 a.m. Wednesday. More than 1,700 flights into and out of the United States were canceled as of 8:50 a.m. on Wednesday, and another 350 were delayed. Orlando saw by far the most cancellations, with 398 flights originating there being canceled and 423 flights arriving there being canceled, followed by Tampa with about 190 canceled each way, according to Flight Aware. Major airlines have told passengers they can change their plans without paying a fare difference. Walt Disney World Resort is closing its parks beginning Wednesday morning—news that came after Goldman Sachs predicted the company is likely to take a nine-figure hit financially from the storm. Universal Resort Orlando announced Tuesday afternoon it will close at 2 p.m. EDT Wednesday and remain closed Thursday. Legoland Florida Resort and SeaWorld Orlando will both be closed on Wednesday and Thursday, and Busch Gardens Tampa is now closed through Thursday.
Have Waffle Houses Closed For Hurricane Milton?
Yes. Tampa-area locations of Waffle House, the breakfast food chain, will close ahead of Milton’s projected landfall. The company cited the so-called “Waffle House Index” in a social media post explaining the decision, a reference to a scale invented by former Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) administrator Craig Fugate to judge the severity of a natural disaster. If Waffle Houses in an area are open and serving a full menu, it’s a green on the index, a limited menu is a yellow on the scale, meaning the local area could be without electricity or water, and the index goes to red if the locations close down, indicating the local community will be in need of significant help.
Could Hurricane Milton Be A Category 6 Hurricane?
No. There is currently no such thing as a Category 6 hurricane. The National Hurricane Center measures storm intensity using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which ranks storms up to a Category 5, but some scientists think it may be time for a change. Earlier this year, researchers proposed adding a sixth hurricane category to describe storms with wind speeds above 192 mph and adjusting the current Category 5 description to include storms with winds between 157 and 192 mph. Using that proposed scale, five storms between 1980 and 2021 would have been classified as a Category 6, none of which threatened to make landfall in the United States. The National Hurricane Center in February said it has no plans to add a Category 6 to its hurricane scale.
Key Background
Milton will be the second major hurricane to hit Florida in two weeks. Hurricane Helene hit the state on Sept. 26, killing at least 20 in Florida, before going on to devastate parts of the southeastern United States. More than 220 people have died and hundreds more are still missing, with western North Carolina taking the brunt of flooding that the state’s governor says wiped communities “off the map.” In Florida, people are still working to clear debris from Helene as the next storm bears down. Ahead of Hurricane Milton, Hillsborough County, home to Tampa, ordered evacuations for areas near Tampa Bay and for all mobile and manufactured homes by Tuesday night. Lee County, home to Fort Myers, issued a mandatory evacuation order for the island of Fort Myers Beach. Other mandatory evacuation orders have been issued in Pinellas County, Pasco County and Manatee County. DeSantis on Tuesday said he wasn’t sure exactly how many people plan to evacuate for Hurricane Milton, but that he thinks those who saw Hurricane Helene will be particularly motivated to leave the area.
Tangent
Federal Emergency Management Agency has said it is grappling with “extremely damaging” false narratives circulating about Hurricane Helene, which hit the U.S. two weeks ago. FEMA chief Deanne Criswell said misinformation about the storm and the federal government’s response is the “worst” she’s ever seen as former President Donald Trump and his allies slam the agency. Trump incorrectly claimed FEMA couldn’t respond appropriately to the storm because it diverted so much money to helping migrants on the order of Vice President Kamala Harris. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the agency is “meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have.” Other rumors include that FEMA has been withholding aid from areas that have historically voted Republican and that the agency is only giving $750 to disaster survivors to support their recovery.
Further Reading
Florida
As Florida debates property tax relief, a local official analyzed the potential impact on South Florida
Florida homeowners who have been lobbying for property tax relief may be closer to receiving it with a newly filed bill in Tallahassee.
Joseph Zamb, who works in real estate, said the ultimate goal should be to eliminate property taxes entirely for homesteaded properties. He believes this step would benefit both investors and homeowners.
“I think that the next step for South Florida, all of Florida, is to completely eliminate property taxes,” Zamb said. “You need to get the American dream back, buy a house, and not have to constantly be paying, paying, paying”.
The official bill calls for a $150,000 homestead exemption in 2027, followed by a $250,000 exemption in 2028. The legislature would then be tasked with creating a long-term plan for the following years.
Broward Property Appraiser Marty Kiar analyzed the potential impact based on 2025 property values. Kiar found that with the $150,000 exemption, the 425,000 homesteaded property owners in Broward would save about $2,100. However, this exemption would mean the county loses $195 million, and schools are down by $294 million. Kiar noted that the current version of the bill does not include a carve-out for schools.
“Whatever city you live in will depend on the loss of revenue to your city, based on how many homesteaded properties there are, how many commercial properties there are,” Kiar said.
The legislature is scheduled to hash out the details next week during a special session. If the bill passes, it would be presented to voters as a constitutional amendment for approval or rejection.
“At the end of the day, it’s going to be the most consequential vote that anybody is going to make if anything’s on the ballot in November, because it could potentially change the way things are done,” Kiar said.
Florida
Traffic stop goes viral after Florida deputy accuses driver missing right hand of holding phone
PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Video of a traffic stop in Palm Beach County is going viral over an awkward exchange between the driver and a deputy who accused her of holding a phone while driving.
Leer en español
“You drove past me holding a phone with your right hand, manipulating that phone,” the deputy tells 36-year-old Kathleen “Katie” Thomas.
“Obviously not,” Thomas says while laughing and holding up her right arm, showing that she’s missing her right hand.
“So you wanna call this a day?” she asks.
“I don’t want to call this a day. You had a hand up, manipulating,” the deputy responds.
“You just said my right hand,” Thomas counters.
“Well, I thought I saw your right hand,” the deputy says.
“So you didn’t,” Thomas responds.
Thomas posted the bodycam footage on Instagram and TikTok where it gained millions of likes.
In the video, although she shows the deputy she doesn’t have a right hand, the deputy doubled down.
“I’m asking you now; did you or not have your phone in your hand?” the deputy asks.
“I did not,” Thomas responds.
“You did not have your phone in your hand?” the deputy asks again.
“I did not,” Thomas responds.
“Hand to God, you didn’t have a phone in your hand?” the deputy asks.
“Hand to God,” Thomas says.
Court records show Thomas was given a $116 citation despite the presented evidence, but it was later dismissed at the request of the deputy involved.
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A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded Thursday night on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The explosion occurred at about 9 p.m. ET. Blue Origin said there were no injuries from the incident.
“We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test,” Blue Origin said in a statement. “All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.”
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station also confirmed in a separate statement that “all personnel have been accounted for and there were no injuries/fatalities.”
Blue Origin was scheduled to fuel the rocket Thursday evening ahead of a planned test firing of the rocket’s engines.
Blue Origin, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, successfully launched its third New Glenn rocket last month.
This rocket was being prepared for the fourth New Glenn mission as soon as June 4 to launch 48 satellites for Amazon’s Leo internet service, which competes with Elon Musk’s Starlink.
The 48 satellites were not aboard the rocket during the test. It was not immediately clear how much damage the launch pad and ground equipment sustained, or how long it might take to repair it.
Space Launch Complex 36, where the explosion occurred, is the only launch pad equipped to launch New Glenn rockets.
The New Glenn rocket is key to Blue Origin’s and NASA’s moon base plans, and the explosion will likely be a setback. Next year, the New Glenn is supposed to launch another Blue Moon lander as part of the Artemis III mission in low Earth orbit.
In a social media post, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wrote, “Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult. We will work with our partners to support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and get back to launching rockets.”
The New Glenn rocket had just been cleared on May 22 to return to flight after being grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration after an anomaly with the second stage during an April 19 launch.
In a statement Thursday, the FAA said it was aware that the rocket had “experienced an anomaly during a static fire test on the pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida,” adding that the “test was not within the scope of FAA licensed activities.”
The FAA also noted that “there was no impact to air traffic” from the explosion.
Bezos wrote on X Thursday night, “It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it. Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.”
Musk wrote: “Sorry to see this, I hope you recover quickly.”
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