On Wednesday evening, Hurricane Milton hit Florida’s heavily populated west coast. The storm brought life-threatening floods and extreme winds for the second time within two weeks.
US National Hurricane Center reported that the cyclone, which was a category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson five-step scale with winds of 120mph made landfall in Sarasota County near Siesta Key. The storm is expected to stay at Hurricane intensity as it moves through central Florida on Thursday.
The NHC warned of “devastating” rains and damaging wind, with “life-threatening”, gusts, and tornadoes. Storm surges up to 13ft could also inundate cities with flash floods.
According to PowerOutage.us which tracks utility reports in the US, more than 2mn homes, businesses and other buildings were without electricity late Wednesday night. Storm surge warnings are in place in some parts of Florida’s westcoast, including Tampa Bay (which avoided a direct strike) and in the central east coast from Georgia to Florida.
Milton is the second hurricane to strike the US within a week. This comes after hurricane Helene caused havoc in several southern states, killing over 225 people.
Deanne Criswell is the head of US Federal Emergency Management Agency. She warned on Wednesday that Milton will be a “deadly, catastrophic storm”, bringing “a massive storm surge, strong winds, and severe flooding” in Florida.
Analysts warn that the US hurricane season of 2024 will “dent” the insurers’ profits.
Morningstar DBRS, a credit rating agency, warned that the accumulation of losses during the 2024 hurricane seasons, which run until the end November, “would likely make a dent” in the insurers’ profits, particularly for those who have “significant exposures in personal lines in Florida”.
Oscar Seikaly is the chief executive officer of NSI Insurance in Miami.
He said that insurers have balanced their business by issuing many policies in the north. This was a relatively safe area, historically.
Seikaly said that the damage to the houses in the area could be severe, as many are not constructed to withstand storms. He said that there are still houses made of wood frame, and these are the ones which fly in a tropical storm.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that 6,000 members from the Florida National Guard, and 3,000 others were ready to respond in its aftermath.
He told reporters that this was the largest Florida National Guard Search and Rescue mobilisation ever in the history of Florida.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden criticised Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump for leading a “onslaught” of lies regarding the US government’s reaction to the hurricane.
Trump has tried to politicise Hurricane Helene as well as Hurricane Milton, accusing Biden’s administration of failing to do enough to assist communities affected by the storms. He has also spread a false impression about the financial assistance available to those fleeing disaster zones.
Biden said, “In the past few weeks there has been a reckless and irresponsible promotion of disinformation, and even outright lies, which are disturbing to people.” It undermines confidence in the amazing rescue and recovery efforts that have already been undertaken and will continue to take place. It is harmful to those most in need of help.
Officials in the Tampa Bay region sent out text messages to people and made phone calls to them to warn them about the dangers of not evacuating their homes. Pinellas County officials, who live on the peninsula of Tampa Bay, warned residents to “get out immediately”.
Independent climate scientists have said that climate change caused by humans has increased the intensity of Hurricane Helene’s winds and its devastating rain by approximately 10%.
The World Weather Attribution Group found that global warming caused by the burning fossil fuels made high sea temperatures 200-500 times more likely.
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