CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: Category 5 Hurricane Milton tore towards Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday, leaving residents less than 24 hours to evacuate. According to weather authorities, the “catastrophic” Category 5 storm is predicted to hit Florida’s Tampa area tonight (local time), packing ferocious winds of up to 165mph (270km/h). Presently, Hurricane Milton is located around 300 miles (485 km) southwest of Tampa, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
More than 1 million people in coastal areas of Florida have been given evacuation orders as it could be the worst storm to hit the region in about a century – with a surge of 10-15ft (3-4.5m) possible, and localised rainfall of up to 1.5ft.
Meanwhile, Wesh 2 released a county-wise warning for Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall. Seminole County and Orange County are likely to get 10″+ rainfall while windspeed is expected to cross 50mph across the state.
Here is the full chart of predicted extremities for different counties of Florida:
