Hurricane Milton live updates: Landfall time, path tracker, Tampa live cam

Tropical storm-force winds have begun lashing the western coast of Florida as Hurricane Milton draws closer, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory Wednesday afternoon.

Officials said at 3 p.m. that the Category 4 storm’s center was 120 miles (193 kilometers) southwest of Tampa and 110 miles (177 kilometers) west of Fort Myers. It had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (209 kph).

The storm is expected to make landfall Wednesday night.

Storm watchers preparing for Hurricane Milton were also concerned about the possibility of a future storm, as the National Hurricane Center said it was monitoring another system that could form in the Atlantic.

But that storm system, which was located about 300 miles (482 kilometers) west-southwest of Bermuda on Wednesday afternoon, hasn’t been given a name yet and the chance of it forming a cyclone over the next 48 hours was “low,” the center said.

“Environmental conditions are becoming less favorable for tropical or subtropical development today,” the center said in its statement.

Still, the possible formation of another hurricane brought anxiety to residents already fatigued by the quick succession of Helene and Milton. Milton was the 13th named storm of the hurricane season, and the next hurricane could be called Hurricane Nadine.

NOAA forecast 17 to 25 named storms for this year. That would constitute an above normal hurricane season.

The water level along the Anclote River already looked ominously high near Beverly Boggess’s home in Pasco County on Wednesday.

Her property sits in front of the river, which flows from the eastern part of the county to the Gulf of Mexico. The river is due to crest at 25 feet (8 meters) on Friday evening, more than double its current level at 11 feet (3.4 meters).

Boggess, 56, is a Florida native. By her count, Milton will be the 41st named storm of her life. But she said something feels different this time.

“This one is definitely more unnerving than usual,” Boggess said. “The fact that this one is coming directly at us and not riding the coast is cause for concern. I’m still praying that it will die down.”

Bogess, who said she doesn’t live in an immediate evacuation zone, removed all possible projectiles from her property. She boarded her windows, secured a generator and stocked up on food and gas. Bogess will be sheltering with her family, including her grandson, a 6-year-old with special needs.

She works for a state building contractor with a water damage repair company. She said her crews are exhausted from performing remediation services, such as ripping out dry wall, around the clock for the last two weeks. Everyone is in “storm shock,” she said.

“This is a way of life and the price we all pay to live in the tropics,” Bogess said.

Asked at a briefing in Buncombe County, North Carolina, about FEMA’s ability to respond to both Milton and Helene, MaryAnn Tierney, a regional administrator for the agency replied: “FEMA can do more than one thing at a time.”

The agency can provide personnel to western North Carolina and assistance to survivors while balancing needs created by Hurricane Milton, Tierney said.

“FEMA has funding and we have personnel to do so. We have hundreds of personnel in North Carolina. We have hundreds of personnel in Florida. We are here for an extended period of time given the long-term recovery,” she said. “FEMA’s mission in western North Carolina will be enduring.”

By early afternoon, airlines had canceled about 1,900 U.S. flights, with more than 80% of them at three large Florida airports that were closed by the storm and another, Miami International, that remained open.

Tampa International Airport closed Tuesday, Orlando International shut down Wednesday morning and Southwest Florida International near Fort Myers planned to reopen Friday. Some smaller airports in the state also shut down. Widespread cancellations extended into Atlanta and Charlotte.

A 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew has been enacted in Charlotte County, along southwestern Florida’s Gulf Coast, officials said on the county’s webpage.

The curfew begins Wednesday night, is in place until further notice and prohibits the sale of alcohol in the county between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. until the curfew is lifted. Violating the curfew is a misdemeanor.

“Although I recognize the frustrations that come with enacting a curfew, this is a means of protecting the people and property of Charlotte County during and following Hurricane Milton,” Sheriff Bill Prummell said. “As soon as it is safe, I will recommend the order be rescinded. Until that time, the only people who should be out on the roadways during those hours are essential workers as they strive to assess damage and provide assistance to those in need and people traveling to and from work.”

The curfew will be strictly enforced in Punta Gorda, Police Chief Pam Smith added.

“This curfew will allow emergency responders to focus on post-storm rescue and recovery efforts,” Smith said.

Just after noon Wednesday, surge was already starting to appear along the harbor in Cape Coral, at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River.

The water had moved well up the beach and was nearing the parking lot. A pier was within a foot of being submerged.

Heavy rains from bands associated with Hurricane Milton were bringing heavy rain and wind gusts up to 40 mph (64 kph).

In Lee County, which includes Fort Myers about 95 miles (153 kilometers) southeast of Tampa, Public Safety Director Ben Abes said Wednesday that the county’s law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services will not respond to calls beginning later Wednesday when the weather worsens.

“Our area hospitals may also lock down, which would prevent access for … ambulances,” Abes said.

Abes said tropical storm force winds were coming ashore and the time to evacuate has passed.

Abes said the county’s 13 shelters are housing more than 6,700 people.

St. Petersburg officials warned residents Wednesday afternoon that regardless of where the storm hits, the city should prepare for extended power outages and the possible shutdown of its sewerage system.

Mayor Ken Welch said residents should brace for a long recovery.

“This is the reality of a direct hit from a powerful hurricane in our area. This is not a storm that we will recover from quickly. We have a long road ahead of us, but we will recover and we will rebuild,” Welch said. “But for the next several hours, our focus is to keep everyone safe, and we can do that.”

At a Wednesday briefing, DeSantis responded to a question about social media messages falsely suggesting federal emergency officials aren’t going to let residents back into their homes after Hurricane Milton strikes.

“We live in an era where if you put out crap online, you can get a lot of people to share it and you can monetize that. That’s just the way it is,” DeSantis said.

“FEMA is not leading this show, we are leading this show here in the state of Florida. We’re marshaling whatever assets are available to us, we’re leveraging that.”

“There’s not going to be anything where FEMA is ever going to be able to keep you from your home,” he said.

“Be careful about the nonsense that gets circulated, and just know that the more titillating it is, the more likely somebody is making money off it,” he added. “And they don’t really give a damn about the well-being and safety of the people that are actually in the eye of this storm, it’s all just trying to monetize what they’re doing.”

Trokon Nagbe and his husband Morris Kulp evacuated their one-story home in St. Petersburg to stay at the storm shelter at Gibbs High School, where as of Wednesday morning some 1,700 people were hunkering down.

The couple didn’t have damage from Hurricane Helene, but heard Hurricane Milton will be much worse and didn’t want to chance it. They wished they knew to bring their own cots though — the couple said evacuees are sleeping on the floor of the school’s classrooms.

“Sleeping on the floor, that’s the hardest part for me,” Nagbe said.

“It’s not the Hilton or the Marriott,” his husband Morris Kulp added, “but it sure is appreciated.”

Shortly before noon Wednesday, officials in Pasco County, home to more than 500,000 people in bedroom communities for Tampa and St. Petersburg, said they were getting ready to take buses off the roads.

“This is your last chance if you need to get to a shelter,” the Pasco County Public Information Office said in a written statement. “After that, you’ll need to find a way to the shelter or be prepared to ride out the storm.”

The county has six shelters open for anyone in mandatory evacuation zones.

Forecasted tornadoes and up to 18 inches (46 centimeters) of rain — along with possible hurricane-force wind — prompted officials in the storm’s path in central Florida to urge people to reach their safe places immediately.

“Go now. Don’t wait. The time to be able to move around safely and make those last minute preparations is rapidly closing,” Polk County Emergency Management Director Paul Womble urged residents in a public briefing Wednesday morning.

Inland from the Tampa area and south of Orlando, Polk County is home to the Legoland Florida Resort theme park, which was closed ahead of the storm.

The weather will get bad after dark and flooding may even worsen over the next couple days as rainwater finds its way to the ocean, Womble warned.

“There will be trees down, there will be power lines down, it will be dangerous to move around,” he added.

Nearly 3,000 people already were in the county’s 19 shelters and there was still plenty of space for more, he said.

“Those evacuating before Hurricane Milton or recovering from Hurricane Helene should not be subject to illegal price gouging or fraud – at the pump, airport, or hotel counter,” she said in a statement Wednesday.

Harris said the federal government is tracking allegations and “will hold those taking advantage of the situation accountable.”

President Joe Biden made a similar demand Tuesday.

“I’m calling on the airlines and other companies to provide as much service as possible to accommodate evacuations and not to engage in price gouging, to just do it on the level,” he said at the White House.

Christian Burke and his mother Patty are hunkering down in their three-story, poured concrete home overlooking the bay.

Burke said his father, a builder by trade, designed this home with a Category 5 hurricane in mind — and now they’re going to test it.

As a police vehicle drove by blaring an announcement urging residents to evacuate, Burke acknowledged staying isn’t a good idea and said he’s “not laughing at this storm one bit” — he just believes the house his father built will withstand it.

That’s according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center, which says the storm will make landfall along the center of Florida’s west coast.

The hurricane center had previously said landfall could come late Wednesday or early Thursday.

State education officials say some school buildings will be used as shelters for the storm throughout the affected region.

Among those closed is the Hillsborough County school district, where Tampa is located, which has about 224,000 students and is the nation’s seventh largest school district.

Colleges and universities also canceled classes, with some saying they would switch to remote learning later this week if they’re able to resume classes. Some schools outside the storm’s path, including the University of Miami, planned to take precautions by shifting to remote learning through Thursday.

A couple blocks from the Peace River, Ted Gjerde worked up a sweat Wednesday morning as he prepared his home for up to 12-feet of storm surge. His house sits on a 10-foot hill but that might not be enough protection.

The retiree has spent his life dealing with water — 23 years in the Navy running boilers followed by 20 years working at a nearby state water plant — so he had a plan. He had piled sandbags in front of his garage and put plywood and caulk on the interior of his doors.

“Hopefully, that should get me to 13 or 14 feet up,” he said before giving a mock, “Yay.”

He would spend the storm at the treatment plant, 25-feet above sea level, with his wife and their two German shepherds. His 1967 Chevy Camaro was already there.

Two weeks ago, Helene’s surge had unexpectedly gotten to the bottom of his garage door — a couple more feet and his classic car and his house would have been in trouble. Nearby homes that aren’t elevated got swamped.

“We got lucky, real lucky,” Gjerde said.

“ I don’t think there’s any way around that,” he said at a Wednesday morning briefing.

Tropical storm warnings were issued as far north as Savannah, roughly 200 miles from the projected path of the hurricane’s center.

Storm surge of 2 to 4 feet was forecast for Georgia communities including St. Simons Island, home to nearly 16,000 people, and Tybee Island, which has population of 3,100. Wind gusts of up to 45 mph could break off large tree limbs, topple shallow-rooted trees and cause scattered power outages, according to the National Weather Service.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said to people choosing to remain home on barrier islands, “just know that if you get 10 feet of storm surge, you can’t just hunker down with that.”

“If you’re on the southern part of this storm, you are going to get storm surge,” DeSantis said.

“It’s churning massive amounts of water, and that water is going to come out,” he added. “Man, if you’re anywhere in the eye or south, you are going to get major storm surge.”

“Florida will not stand for looting — we will not stand for it. We will come after you,” said Mark Glass, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

“The roads and the interstates, they are flowing,” he said, but added that traffic conditions could deteriorate as the day goes on Wednesday.

But in a Wednesday morning briefing, the governor said highway patrol cars with sirens are escorting gasoline tanker trucks to get them through traffic to refill the supply.

“And they are continuing with the fuel escorts as we speak,” he said.

In the Port Charlotte area, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Tampa, officials said water pressure would be lowered Wednesday morning.

Utility operations for Charlotte County also would be suspended at noon. Officials said on the county’s webpage that storm surge and heavy rainfall will inundate the sewer system, making it difficult for wastewater to flow properly.

But there were no immediate strong winds. Most businesses were closed as people finished storm preparations and got to the location where they’ll ride out the storm.