Hurricane "Milton" made landfall along the Florida coast as a Category 3 storm, BTA reported. The storm brought with it strong winds, dangerously high waves and the threat of flooding to large parts of the state. "Milton" gained strength from excessively warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico and twice reached category five.
The cyclone made landfall in the Siesta Key area of Sarasota County, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. The storm caused dangerously high water levels in much of Florida along the Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas such as Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
As the storm moves across the Florida peninsula, heavy rains brought by "Milton" are expected to cause flooding in areas around rivers and lakes, after which the hurricane will head toward the Atlantic Ocean.
"Milton" hits Florida at a time when the state is still recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which wreaked havoc on Florida's coastal communities and killed dozens of people.
President Joe Biden called on citizens to follow the recommendations of the authorities.
"The situation is literally life and death," he said at a White House briefing.
"Milton" could cause losses to the global insurance industry that could reach up to $100 billion. This, in turn, could sharply increase reinsurance prices, and hence the value of insurance companies' shares, according to analysts cited by Reuters and BTA.
According to the forecasts of the experts from "Morningstar DBR EU" (Morningstar DBRS) damage could total between $60 billion and $100 billion if the point where the hurricane makes landfall happens to be the densely populated area of Tampa, Florida.
If the most pessimistic scenario comes true and the upper limit of $100 billion is reached, it will equal "Milton" in destructiveness with hurricane "Katrina" since 2005. Analysts add that insured losses are likely to be "significant but not catastrophic".
"Katrina" is the hurricane that caused the largest losses to insurers in history.
In second place according to this indicator is "Ian", which hit Florida in 2022 and caused about 60 billion dollars worth of damage.