Hurricane "Milton" quickly strengthened last night in the Gulf of Mexico to category 5 and headed for the US state of Florida, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
The major hurricane threatens to bring dangerous storm surges and storm conditions to Tampa Bay, setting the stage for potential mass evacuations in the Tampa metropolitan area, less than two weeks after catastrophic Hurricane Helen made landfall. flooded the coast and claimed more than 230 lives.
The U.S. Hurricane Center predicts that Hurricane "Milton" to cause storm surges in Tampa Bay and surrounding waters between 2.5 meters to 3 meters above normal high tide and rainfall between 10 to 15 centimeters. The entire Florida coast is particularly vulnerable to storm surges.
The increased risk is partly a result of topographic conditions, notes the Associated Press. Florida's Gulf of Mexico coast is shallow with a sloping, sloping shelf. The higher ocean floor acts as a barrier that holds back stormwater runoff, forcing the ocean to surge toward the coast. This is the opposite of Florida's east coast, where the ocean floor drops abruptly only a few kilometers offshore.
In a 2015 study by Boston-based disaster forecasting firm Karen Clark & Company; concluded that Florida's Tampa Bay is the most vulnerable location in the US to flooding from hurricane surges, potentially sustaining $175 billion in damage. Although residents of the state of Florida are used to storms, the city of Tampa has not been in the direct path of a major hurricane in more than a century.