The timing and strength of Hurricane Milton continued to shift in the hours before landfall along Florida's coast Wednesday.
Hurricane Milton made landfall on the west coast of Florida early Wednesday evening as a Category 3 storm, bringing potentially devastating conditions to much of the state.
The storm is threatening the Tampa Bay area, a major population center that is home to more than 3.3 million people and has managed to evade a direct hit from a major hurricane for over 100 years. “This is going to be an intense disaster for Sarasota County,” Sarasota County Emergency Management Chief Sandra Tapfumaneyi said in a briefing early Wednesday. “Evacuate now if you have not done so already.”
In St. Petersburg, located on Tampa Bay, officials said residents should prepare for extended power outages and the possible shutdown of its sewage system. Mayor Ken Welch said it wasn't a storm that the area would recover from quickly: “We have a long road ahead of us.” "Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months," the description states. to the ranking for storms with winds that exceed 192 miles per hour, though no such category has been officially created so far.
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