Florida Public Radio Emergency Network (FPREN) Storm Center | By Leslie Hudson
Less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida’s northern Gulf coast, Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key on October 9. The storm packed dangerous Category 3 winds of 120 mph, knocking out power to millions of people in Florida and causing at least two dozen deaths.
Milton is the third hurricane to hit Florida this year. After an early to mid-season pause, the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is now above normal by all measures.
Preliminary estimates of the total damage and economic loss from historic Hurricane Milton is between $160 billion and $180 billion. Milton will go down as one of the most damaging and impactful storms in Florida’s history. Hurricane Helene’s total damage and economic loss is estimated at $225-250 billion dollars.
Tornadoes
A staggering 126 tornado warnings were issued in Florida the day Milton made landfall. A total of 45 tornado reports were received, but the NWS has only surveyed 32 of the tornado reports so far, as of Wednesday evening. As they continue to perform surveys, that number could go up if additional damage is found in new areas, or down, if multiple fields of damage are found to be from the same tornado.
Milton’s tornado outbreak places it 2nd among tornado warnings issued on a given day. Numbers 1 and 3 are from super tornado outbreaks in 2011. Number 5 is from catastrophic Hurricane Rita.
Tornadoes are common before and after landfalling hurricanes. Earlier this season, Hurricane Beryl spawned 68 tornadoes from Texas to Canada. However, that number is even eclipsed by Hurricane Beulah in 1967, Rita in 2005, Frances in 2004, and Ivan, which spawned 118 tornadoes in 9 states in 2004 after making landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Storm Surge
The storm surge at Naples, Florida, reached 5.78 feet above normal tide, nearly a foot higher than Hurricane Helene on Sept. 26 and almost 3 feet above Hurricane Debby on Aug. 4.
At Fort Myers, the gauge rose to 5.26 feet, slightly above the crest reached during Hurricane Helene at 5.12, but short of the 50-year record set by Hurricane Ian of 7.26 feet on Sept. 28, 2022.
Anti-surge
Instead of the water rising in Tampa Bay, a tidal gauge downtown, just north of the storm’s landfall experienced a “blowout tide” or anti-storm surge. This happens when high winds from a tropical storm or hurricane blow offshore from the land instead of the ocean, which temporarily pushes water in bays out to sea. The water level fell to nearly 5 feet below normal as winds blew water in the bay out into the Gulf of Mexico.
Rainfall
One of Hurricane Milton’s largest and most consequential signatures will be its flooding rains. The total rainfall estimates from Hurricane Milton are estimated to be over 3.4 trillion gallons of water in the Sunshine State. At the St. Petersburg Albert Whitted Airport, 18.87 inches of rain fell during Hurricane Milton. In just one hour, the rain gauge recorded 5.09 inches, an extremely rare rainfall rate. As Milton moved across Florida, several ambient weather rain gauges recorded 16.67 inches in Lakeland, 32 miles northeast of Tampa.
Flooding
Milton’s flooding rains continue to cause extensive river flooding issues more than a week after it made landfall. Several low-lying communities that straddle rivers along the I-4 corridor have already begun making preparations for additional freshwater flooding for the next 10 days or so, as flood waters recede into local rivers and overspill into flood-prone communities.
Power outages
Hundreds of thousands of Floridians lost power from Hurricane Helene. After Hurricane Milton slammed into south-central Florida and bisected the state, outages eclipsed 3.5 million. Hardee and Highlands counties reported that nearly 100% of customers were in the dark.
Peak Wind Gusts
The strongest wind gust reported during the storm was 105 mph at a WeatherFlow weather station in the Egmont Channel, southwest of St. Petersburg. The Bradenton and St. Petersburg airports also gusted to 102 and 101 mph, respectively.
Other notable numbers
Hurricane Milton’s central pressure fell to 26.64 inches of mercury (902 mb) on Oct. 8, making it the fifth-strongest hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic Basin and the second-lowest for this late in the year. Milton’s sustained winds were estimated at 180 mph, and only five Atlantic hurricanes have had estimated winds higher than Milton’s.
2024 Hurricane Season
Hurricane Milton is the fifth hurricane to make landfall on the Gulf Coast this season, after Beryl, Debby, Francine and Helene. The 2005 and 2020 hurricane seasons also had five. Only the year 1886 had more, with six hurricanes making landfall in the Gulf that season.
