Keystone-SDA
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October 7, 2024 – 8:39 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) Hurricane Milton, described as “extremely dangerous” and now classified in the maximum category, is expected to pass Monday near the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. It is then expected to make landfall by Wednesday in Florida.
The US Hurricane Center (NHC) on Monday elevated Milton to the highest level of category 5 (out of 5). It “rapidly intensified”, going from category 3 to the highest of the scale in just a few hours.
According to the NHC, Milton is accompanied by winds of up to 250 km/h.
It will thus bring violent squalls to the Yucatan on Monday and Tuesday before hitting Florida, in the southeast of the United States, “from Tuesday evening or Wednesday”, via the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
Milton is causing a lot of concern in this American state, less than two weeks after the particularly devastating passage of Hélène in the south-east of the country.
“If anyone has the means to do it (…) hit the road today,” the Florida authorities urged at a press conference on Monday, specifically addressing the populations of the Tampa metropolitan area (around 3 million inhabitants), on the Gulf of Mexico.
For his part, Republican Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis clarified that Milton would remain a hurricane throughout the time it crosses Florida from west to east.
Extended state of emergency
On Sunday, he extended the state of emergency declared the day before to 51 counties out of the 67 in this state, the third most populous in the United States.
By warming sea and ocean waters, climate change makes rapid intensification of storms more likely and increases the risk of more powerful hurricanes, scientists say.
The American Weather Observatory (NOAA) warned at the end of May that the hurricane season, which extends from the beginning of June to the end of November, was shaping up to be an extraordinary year, with the possibility of four to seven Category 3 or more hurricanes.
On-the-job assistance
In the south-east of the country, emergency services are still hard at work to help the many victims of Hurricane Helene, the deadliest to hit the United States since Katrina in 2005.
It left at least 230 dead across half a dozen states in the southeast of the country – including at least 15 in Florida – and caused destructive floods.
“We need to clean up as much debris as possible” caused by Hélène because it creates a “safety risk and will increase the damage that Milton could cause,” said Ron DeSantis.
President Joe Biden called on Sunday “all Florida residents to listen to local officials and prepare accordingly.”
Reiterating his commitment to supporting “as long as it takes” the disaster-stricken regions of the southeast, the American president also announced the deployment of 500 additional soldiers to North Carolina, the state most affected by Hurricane Helene. with at least 120 dead.
In total, 1,500 soldiers are currently mobilized and are in addition to the thousands of rescuers and members of the National Guard, a reserve force.
