Hurricane Milton makes landfall as Category 3 on Florida's west coast

Update: Follow live updates on Hurricane Milton here, including the latest on the impact of the storm.

Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday night as a "dangerous Category 3" storm near Siesta Key, on Florida's central west coast, the National Hurricane Center said. Siesta Key is a barrier island located just south of Sarasota. Milton had sustained winds of 120 mph at landfall, but its strength diminished to Category 1 as it moved inland across the state.

More than 3.2 million customers were without power in Florida early Thursday, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us.

The hurricane center had warned those in the Tampa and St. Petersburg areas to shelter in place as "extremely dangerous hurricane-force winds" were spreading through the area.

Earlier in the day, the National Weather Service in Miami observed at least four twisters, including a "multi-vortex tornado," as meteorologists reported storm surge starting to arrive along the southwestern Florida coast. Tornado warnings were issued for multiple cities, adding to hurricane and storm surge warnings already in place for many of those same places.

After unfurling into an explosive, massive Category 5 storm with formidable winds topping 180 mph on Monday, Milton's sustained wind speeds began to decline as the storm approached landfall. Earlier, forecasters described it as a "catastrophic" hurricane.

Serious damage and flooding were expected even after the storm weakened to a still-powerful Category 3.

"Some of the biggest catastrophes in hurricane history were from weakening storms," Jeff Masters, a scientist who formerly worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's hurricane hunters, told CBS News. "Katrina was weakening as it was approaching the shore and it caused $190 billion in damage. It was a Cat 3 at landfall and it was formerly a Cat 5. Well, here we have another former Cat 5 that's going to be a Cat 3 at landfall, and the storm surge is baked in."

"It's going to do unprecedented damage in this part of Florida," he said.

After landfall, Milton continued across Florida while rapidly weakening after losing the fuel of the warm Gulf waters, but still maintaining its hurricane status, then it will exiti into the Atlantic Ocean and quickly transition into a tropical storm.  

Hurricane Milton live radar map

This radar loop from CBS Miami shows weather conditions from Hurricane Milton over Florida.

Hurricane and storm surge warnings

In the days leading up to Milton's arrival, hurricane and storm surge warnings were in effect along huge stretches of Florida's western and eastern coasts, as well as many inland areas. At one point, all of the state outside the panhandle were under some kind of warning or watch linked to the hurricane, CBS Miami reported. Some tropical storm advisories were also in place for portions of Georgia and the Bahamas.

Storm surge threats are a major concern for the west coast of Florida, because the geography of the western peninsula lends itself to surges that can be particularly severe. Forecasters had raised alarms prior to Milton's landfall about the potential for storm surge up to 13 feet along the Gulf Coast, including in cities like Tampa and Fort Myers, although officials said that worst case scenario did not seem to be taking shape as the storm moved off eastern Florida into the Atlantic. 

"If you are in the Storm Surge Warning area, this is an extremely life-threatening situation and you should evacuate if ordered to do so by local officials," the National Weather Service said.

Multiple storm surge, hurricane and tropical storm warnings were in effect for parts of eastern Florida the morning after Milton's landfall. A storm surge warning extended northward to Altamaha Sound in Georgia, and a tropical storm warning stretched from the Daytona Beach area to Edisto Beach in South Carolina.

Forecasts for Milton indicated that heavy rainfall, up to 18 inches in certain areas, would continue to hit parts of the Florida peninsula through Thursday, so risks remained for "catastrophic and life-threatening flash and urban flooding, along with moderate to major river flooding," the hurricane center said.

Mass evacuations ahead of the storm

Mass evacuations clogged highways as people prepared for Milton's potentially historic impact. Some communities, like those in and around the Tampa Bay area, were still reeling from Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago.

In a briefing Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said warned people that "we're going to have impacts far beyond wherever the eye of the storm is." 

He added, "The impacts will be broader ... specifically with respect to storm surge."

On Wednesday he was even more blunt: "There will be fatalities," DeSantis said. "I don't think there's any way around that when you have 10 feet of storm surge. There are going to be people who stay behind, and they're going to be in distress."

Officials have set up 149 shelters across Florida that are open to the general population, with enough capacity to hold around 200,000, the governor said. 

Floridians in the potential path of the hurricane lined properties with sandbags, boarded up doors and windows, and moved their boats ahead of the storm's arrival. DeSantis issued emergency orders over the weekend that now include 51 counties, whose residents, he said, should prepare for power outages, stock up on enough food and water to last a week and be ready to leave their homes if necessary.

Urging people in or around evacuation zones who hadn't left yet to seek shelter at local or state-run centers established as a response to Milton, DeSantis said Wednesday that time was running out. Key infrastructure like main roads and bridges will likely shut down in some areas as the storm gets closer in the afternoon, and driving has already been challenging since evacuations put jammed highways at 150 to 175% of their capacities.

According to GasBuddy, as of Wednesday morning, a little more than 23% of Florida gas stations were without fuel, including more than 59% in the area around Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg. Those numbers had climbed since Tuesday night.

Milton has undergone fast-moving and at times dramatic changes over the last few days. In an interview on "CBS Mornings" Wednesday, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell asked Floridians to listen to local officials as the storm continued to oscillate in terms of strength while approaching landfall and explained some people may not need to travel far when evacuating.

"The message that I try to get across is when we think about evacuation we often think about these long lines of traffic going out of state when in reality you may only need to go a few miles," Criswell said. "This is a massive storm that is going to bring catastrophic wind, but also flooding and storm surge, so listen to your local officials. Nobody needs to die from this storm. I want people to get out of harm's way."

Milton's peak strength rivaled the most disastrous Atlantic hurricanes in recorded history and happened at breakneck speed. Milton was a tropical storm only 24 hours before it snowballed into a Category 5 hurricane, the highest ranking on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which rates storms based on their sustained wind speeds.

"It is worth emphasizing that this is a very serious situation," the hurricane center said Tuesday morning. "Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida."

Tampa-area streets are still lined with miles of debris from Hurricane Helene. The goal, according to Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, was to have most of it cleared by Tuesday, but the city fell short on that.

"Rumors that we don't have enough resources, that could not be further from the truth," Castor said in a news briefing Tuesday. "The federal government, the state government, the county, the city, private entities, are working hand-in-hand, first and foremost, to get that household debris up and out of the way, and secondly to make sure everyone is safe as we endure whatever Milton brings our way." 

John Antapasis, emergency management director for the city of Tampa, knows just how vulnerable his city is to hurricanes.

"There's a lot of vulnerable infrastructure here, and the geography itself that potentially, you know, puts us just much at more risk," Antapasis said.

Antapasis said the storm surge is the one thing that makes him worry at night when he goes to sleep.

"It's the storm surge on this one," Antapasis said. "Ultimately our first responders, we're going to be here, we're going to try to save lives, protect property first. And then we will go through that recovery process if that does happen to us."

Eurydice Stanley rode out Helene in her Tampa-area home, but evacuated to Tallahassee on Monday.

"People are staying at home, but these storms are different, ask the citizens of of Asheville, North Carolina," Stanley told CBS News.

And while millions of people in the Tampa area are under a mandatory evacuation, and many have left, some aren't going anywhere. Bridgit Budd, who resides on Sanibel Island, is among those who says she is staying. Budd and her husband have ridden out for major hurricanes before, including Helene.

"There's just no place I would rather be," Budd told CBS News. "You know, I don't suggest it for anybody. I'm not promoting it."

Travel disrupted

 Florida airports canceled flights and some closed ahead of the storm. United said Tuesday night that it had added 18 extra flights out of Florida, as well larger aircraft on four of those flights in an effort to serve as many customers as possible. It said all flights out of Tampa, Fort Myers and Sarasota were full through Thursday.

The Port of Key West has closed ahead of Milton's arrival, CBS Miami reports, with cruise ships bypassing the port. Several Orlando area theme parks were also shuttering, including Walt Disney World, SeaWorld Orlando and Universal Studios Florida.   

Aviation analytics company Circium reported that 80% of flights from Tampa were canceled Tuesday. 

"We are talking about the possibility now of a direct hit," said Tampa Mayor Jane Castor in a CNN interview Monday, where she urged people to heed storm warnings and follow evacuation protocols. Castor noted that storm surge caused by Helene, while destructive, was significantly lower than the surge forecast for a vast stretch of Florida's western coast, including Tampa, with Milton.

"Helene was a wake-up call. This is literally catastrophic. And I can say, without any dramatization whatsoever, if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you're going to die," Castor said.

President Biden echoed the mayor Tuesday morning as the White House announced he would postpone a trip to Germany and Angola to monitor the response to Hurricane Milton.

"I've urged everyone, everyone currently located in Hurricane Milton's path to listen to local officials and follow safety instructions," Mr. Biden said. "... If you're under evacuation orders, you should evacuate now, now, now — you should have already evacuated. It's a matter of life and death."

Mr. Biden said he preapproved emergency declarations in Florida and sent Criswell to the state Monday. The president also said he has spoken to all political leaders in the region expected to feel Milton's impacts and told them, "Anything they ask for, they can get."

In:
• Gulf of Mexico
• Florida
• Hurricane
• National Hurricane Center