Hurricane Milton has downgraded to Category 4 on Tuesday after hitting Category 5 status hours earlier as it heads to make landfall on Florida’s western coast by Wednesday night.
The National Hurricane Center said the storm weakened slightly but is growing larger and would double in size before reaching Tampa, which means its impacts would spread even further from its center.
“The area impacted will be more widespread, so all the damaging winds, the surge will be further, the rainfall could be more over a larger area,” NHS meteorologist Christianne Pearce said.
“The impacts themselves reach far from where the center of the storm will be.”
Highways and interstates were clogged with fleeing cars on Tuesday as people tried to evacuate from the devastating hurricane’s path.
“A large area of destructive storm surge, with highest inundations of 10 ft or greater, is expected along a portion of the west-central coast of the Florida peninsula,” the NHC warned.
“If you are in the Storm Surge Warning Area, this is an extremely life-threatening situation, and you should evacuate today if ordered by local officials,”
“There will likely not be enough time to wait to leave on Wednesday.”
