“Devastating waves” and a “mortally dangerous storm”. Hurricane Milton could be “the worst storm in Florida in a century,” Joe Biden warned on Tuesday, on the sidelines of a meeting with his advisers at the White House to take stock of preparations. “You must evacuate now, it is a question of life or death”, also launched the American president for the concerned inhabitants of the southeastern state, where this hurricane which has weakened slightly but remains judged “extremely dangerous” is due to arrive on Wednesday.
“The entire Florida peninsula is under some form of either watch or alert,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday. The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that Milton was an “extremely dangerous hurricane”, finally downgraded to Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, the highest.
The hurricane, which is moving from southwest to northeast in the Gulf of Mexico, is expected to make landfall in Florida overnight from Wednesday to Thursday. Before that, “devastating waves” and a “life-threatening storm” are expected Tuesday along the northern coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, the NHC warned. As extreme weather events increase due to global warming, why is this hurricane so dangerous?
Rapid intensification and warm waters
The storm officially became a hurricane on Sunday, moved to category 5 on Monday then downgraded to level 4, before finally dropping back to 5 on Tuesday. Climate change makes rapid intensification of storms more likely and increases the risk of more powerful hurricanes by warming sea and ocean waters, scientists say. Temperatures in the North Atlantic have been continuously evolving for more than a year at record levels of heat, according to data from the American Meteorological Observatory (NOAA).
This region of the world is a “hurricane factory”, whose “intensification can be very rapid”, pointed out this Monday in our columns Davide Faranda, CNRS researcher at the Climate and Environmental Sciences Laboratory (LSCE). The scientific organization Climate Central notably highlighted
An impressive phenomenon illustrated by CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa in a message on mph,” she says, describing a “staggering and frightening” event.
The southeastern United States is still recovering from Helen, a devastating hurricane that caused widespread flooding and damage in half a dozen states, killing at least 234 people. A sign of the seriousness of the situation as Milton approaches, the White House announced that Joe Biden had decided not to go as planned at the end of the week to Germany and then to Angola.
Florida, a “very vulnerable” state
The “extremely dangerous” character of Milton also reflects the characteristics of Florida, where the hurricane is expected to make landfall. “This state is very vulnerable because the territory is very flat. Many houses are not made to withstand hurricanes, there are many flood zones and there is no choice to evacuate sometimes millions of people. All this seems crazy to us, but getting into the car and leaving home is part of the culture and tradition of Americans when faced with this kind of phenomenon,” Davide Faranda told the Parisian on Monday.
According to weather expert Michael Lowry, “if the worst forecasts materialize for the Tampa Bay region, coastal flooding caused by Milton could be double that observed two weeks ago during Helen.” “Milton strengthened on Monday at a breakneck pace”, one of the “fastest ever observed in the Atlantic basin”, he added.
Generators, food, water and tarps are being distributed across Florida and many residents plan to leave.
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