Double-digit storm surges are expected to inundate the Tampa Bay region ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, but federal officials expect that Florida’s infrastructure can prevent the type of inland flooding that took communities in the Appalachian Mountains by surprise after Hurricane Helene.
Intense rainfall put the unexpected dangers of flooding from rivers and overtopped dams on display in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina last month, as dams threatened to fail — but ultimately held — at federal and local sites alike. Still, experts saw those incidents as a warning, calling attention to unmet needs of aging structures across the nation that can threaten human life and property in a sudden failure.
Milton is projected to make landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday night as a Category 4 storm, then “remain an extremely dangerous hurricane” as it moves east-northeast. A public alert from NOAA on Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. ET noted hurricane-force winds extend up to 35 miles from the center of the storm, with tropical-storm-force winds extending up to 175 miles from the center.
The storm is expected to push surges of water — more than 12 feet in the most impacted areas — from the Gulf into coastal communities, stretching from Indian Pass in the state’s panhandle to the Florida Keys.
