Hurricane Milton is set to bring a storm surge of up to 15 feet above ground level to parts of Florida’s coastline—here is where the Sunshine State will be hit the hardest.
Milton, which was upgraded to a Category 5 on Monday, with winds greater than 156 mph forecast, is expected to make landfall in the Tampa Bay region on Wednesday evening.
Powerful hurricanes can result in storm surge—when water rises and is pushed inland by the strong winds.
The National Hurricane Center has published a map showing how much storm surge areas in Florida can expect. Tampa Bay is set to suffer the most, with a surge between 10 and 15 feet above ground level.
National Weather Service map showing where in Florida is forecast to be hit with the highest storm surge during Hurricane Milton. The Category 5 hurricane is set to hit the Sunshine State on Wednesday evening.
National Weather Service
The areas between Englewood and Bonita Beach, and further north between Yankeetown and Anclote River, are forecast to be hit the second-hardest, with water levels between five and 10 feet.
Meanwhile, the area south of Bonita Beach, down to Chokoloskee, is set to experience a storm surge of between four and seven feet above ground level.
Storm surge for the majority of coastal areas is expected to be between three and six feet above ground level. These include Flamingo, Sebastian Inlet, Flagler and Volusia counties and Altamaha Sound.
The lowest storm surge levels will be between one and three feet above ground level.
Florida is still reeling from Hurricane Helene, which made landfall near Perry in the state’s Big Bend region less than two weeks ago.
Helene has killed at least 230 people across six states in the southeast, according to The Associated Press’s most recent death toll, making it the second-deadliest hurricane to strike the U.S. mainland in the past half-century.
It was surpassed only by Hurricane Katrina, which claimed at least 1,833 lives in 2005, according to the National Weather Service.
Both these hurricanes brought intense storm surges too, with Helene’s peak storm surge estimated to have reached more than 15 feet above ground in the Florida Big Bend region, according to global forecasting site Weather Underground’s post-storm modeling.
Katrina’s highest storm surge was recorded at 11.5 feet, while Philpot, in Florida, experienced the storm’s maximum rainfall of 7.80 inches in 48 hours.
On Monday the National Hurricane Center classed Milton as a “catastrophic” Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, with winds greater than 156 miles per hour—but this may weaken before making landfall.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been focusing on getting wreckage cleared from Helene to prevent debris becoming projectiles with Milton.
Multiple areas in the state are under evacuation orders, including parts of Lee, Hillsborough and Sarasota Counties.
