Hurricane Milton live updates: storm makes landfall in Florida as officials warn of ‘life-threatening storm surge’

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Contrasting images of Hurricane Milton’s toll are pouring in as the storm hits Florida’s western coast.

Despite torrential rains, water levels appear low in Tampa, where a reverse storm surge has sucked the water out of the bay. That’s because the storm made landfall south of the city. Since hurricanes spin counterclockwise, locations north of the storm are buffeted by easterly winds – in this case pushing western waters further out.

Meanwhile, south of Milton’s center, western winds are pushing waters from the Gulf of Mexico further ashore. The cities of Fort Myers and Naples are currently reporting flood levels of about four feet.

National Hurricane Center warns of 'life-threatening storm surge'

In its 9pm update the National Hurricane Center warned of a “life-threatening storm surge, extreme winds and flash flooding” as “Milton moves inland along the Florida west coast”. The update included reports of sustained winds in the 60 to 70mph range in the Tampa-St Petersburg metropolitan area, with a gust of 102mph reported at the Skyway Fishing Pier.

With the storm still more than 100 miles away from Orlando, the center also reported a gust of 60mph at the Executive airport there.

Footage coming in from the Tampa area as Hurricane Milton makes landfall shows the devastating consequences of what Joe Biden has called the “storm of the century”.

Reporters with NewsNation have captured video from Tampa Bay, where the storm sucked water back from the coast. At the mouth of Tampa Bay, a weather station has recorded a wind gust of 100mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Meanwhile, the Weather Channel has captured heavy rainfall inundating the city.

And about 60 miles south of Tampa, in Sarasota, hurricane chasers captured a moment of calm as the eye of the storm passed over the city.

Hurricane Milton makes landfall near Siesta Key, Florida

Hurricane Milton has made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, as a category 3 storm with 120 mph sustained winds, according to the National Hurricane Center. Scientists define landfall as the moment the eye of the hurricane moves over the coast – although the approach of the eye wall in the hours before can be more devastating.

Milton is the fifth hurricane to make landfall in the US this year, CNN reports, more than from 2021 to 2023 combined.

More than 600,000 Florida homes are without power – up from 311,000 just an hour ago – as Hurricane Milton hits the state’s western coast, according to Poweroutage.us. Just two weeks ago, almost 3.5 million Americans were without power after Hurricane Helene wreaked unprecedented havoc across large swaths of the south-eastern United States.

Officials say storm to make landfall 'within next hour or two'

In its 8pm briefing, the National Hurricane Center reports that “the center of Milton will make landfall just south of the Tampa Bay region within the next hour or two”. The storm will move across the state overnight and into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday.

As the center of the storm approaches, the eye wall is already bringing high winds to the Tampa area. A gust of 96mph was recently reported at the Sarasota-Bradenton international airport, according to the report, while a gust of 90mph was reported in Venice.

Hurricane Milton approaches Sarasota, Florida. Photograph: Marco Bello/Reuters

Extreme rains and wind have reached Tampa as Hurricane Milton makes landfall just south of the city. St Petersburg’s Albert Whitted airport has reported a wind gust of 90mph, and more than 6in of rain has already fallen in Tampa. The Weather Prediction Center expects as much as 2 to 3in of rain to continue falling each hour tonight as the storm comes ashore.

Governor says 'at this point, too dangerous to evacuate safely'

Florida governor Ron DeSantis delivered updates on Hurricane Milton as the storm begins to make landfall south of Tampa.

“There’s already been 116 tornado warnings, with 19 confirmed touchdowns throughout the state, nine flash flood warnings and four additional flood watches, with many, many more to come,” he said.

Addressing fuel shortages – more than 60% of gas stations in Tampa and St Petersburg were without fuel on Wednesday afternoon, according to analysts at GasBuddy – he added: “When the ports reopen, Florida Highway Patrol will be standing by to escort fuel trucks to service stations so that people will have access to fuel as they return to their homes.

“At this point, it is too dangerous to evacuate safely, so you have to hunker down,” he said.

Nearly 100 tornado warnings issued ahead of Hurricane Milton landfall

The National Weather Service issued at least 98 tornado warnings in the state of Florida between noon and 6pm ET Wednesday as Hurricane Milton prepared to make landfall on the state’s western coast. The service reported sightings of at least 20 tornados, the Washington Post reports.

Meanwhile, major flooding is under way across the state, including in Naples and Fort Myers, where the storm surge has pushed water levels above 3ft.

As Hurricane Milton begins making landfall, storm chaser and meteorologist Reed Timmer, who has been tracking the storm, has shared footage from just south of Tampa. Wind gusts above hurricane-force (74mph or higher) have been reported along the coast, including a 90mph wind gust at Sarasota Bradenton international airport, according to CNN.

More than 311,000 clients in Florida are without power as Hurricane Milton starts to make landfall near Tampa, according to Poweroutage.us. The site tracks a total of 11.5m users in the state. The majority experiencing outages are located along the state’s Gulf Coast.

Florida prepares for Hurricane Milton to make landfall as state pummeled by winds

Florida is bracing for imminent landfall of Hurricane Milton, with winds along the west coast of the state continuing to increase as the center of the storm bears down on Sarasota.

A sustained wind of 58mph and a gust of 77mph were reported near Tampa Bay, according to the National Hurricane Center.

CNN reported that storm surge is ramping up in south-west Florida: Naples is under nearly 3ft of water. Fort Myers saw nearly 2ft of inundation over normally dry ground by 5pm ET.