Qualified as “monster” par the American television channel NBC News, <a href="https://www.archysport.com/2024/10/live-video-of-hurricane-miltons-arrival-in-florida/" title="Live video of Hurricane Milton's arrival in Florida“>Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida on the evening of Wednesday, October 9, reports the American National Hurricane Center (NHC). With winds blowing up to 165 km/h and torrential rains, the storm, which has since downgraded to category 1, particularly affected areas “highly populated areas of the west coast of Florida”, reports The Washington Post, which notably cites the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
According to the National Weather Service, even before Milton’s arrival, around twenty tornadoes of “unusual intensity” were observed, thus causing the first damage. “Keith Pearson, sheriff of St. Lucie County, on Florida’s east coast, confirmed ‘multiple victims’ after a tornado passed through the Spanish Lakes Country Club around 4:30 p.m.,” reports the Washington Post, who specifies that he does not know the exact number of deaths.
“The storm of the century”
Images shared on social networks and broadcast on the British television channel Sky News also witnessed the force of the wind, notably in Tampa Bay, where the roof of the Rays baseball stadium in St. Petersburg was completely torn off. In Sarasota, some streets seem to have turned into rivers. According to The New York Times, “Forecasters had warned of rising water levels of up to 4 meters, and a flash flood warning was in effect in several major cities in Tampa Bay.”
In the days before Milton’s arrival, authorities had issued “evacuation orders for all or part of the territory of 15 counties, totaling more than seven million inhabitants” reminds him Washington Post. Here, Joe Biden himself had called on residents at risk of being affected by the hurricane to flee their homes, considering that Milton could be “the storm of the century”.
