Florida braces for Hurricane Milton’s catastrophic landfall.

The southeastern U.S. state of Florida braced Wednesday for the arrival of powerful Hurricane Milton amid warnings of heavy rains, strong winds and life-threatening storm surge.

Forecasters said the center of the storm was expected to make landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday along Florida’s west-central coast. That region includes Tampa Bay, a city of 3.3 million people that has not taken a direct hit from a hurricane since 1921.

There was particular concern about storm surge, the rise in water level driven mainly by the storm’s powerful winds as it pushes into the coast. The hurricane center said storm surge levels could hit 3-4.5 meters in areas near where the eye of the storm comes ashore.

Storm surge warnings were in effect Wednesday for nearly the entire west coast of the Florida peninsula, spanning 500 kilometers.

Roads were busy Monday and Tuesday as people followed mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders to escape the hurricane’s path, while those choosing to stay made final preparations to endure the storm.

The hurricane had maximum sustained winds of about 250 kilometers per hour early Wednesday, making it a Category 4 storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale. Storms of that magnitude are expected to cause widespread destruction and damage to homes and long-lasting power outages.

Source VOA