Hurricane Milton

[KenAdams]

Couldn't see a thread for this in Weather.

This looks like it's going to be really bad. Helene has already caused enough devastion in the area and the poor people of Tampa are in for a lot more today.

Some people are refusing to evacuate from what I understand but the Mayor of Tampa has warned if you don't evacuate you die.

I can't imagine how scary it must be for them.

Hope everyone is doing okay 💐

I hope you hear from your son soon. 🙏 xx

Just watching live reporting on CNN from Fl. Looks like it hit as a cat 2 with massive rainfall and super cell tornadoes off the east coast. Unsure if any touched down.

Thank you, EVERYONE, who expressed concern for my son and his family in St. Peterburg, FL. I did get a text from him a couple of hours ago. His wife and their sons evacuated, and are safe. He stayed behind to keep an eye on their property, but was doing fine. The solar panels and backup battery are still intact, or were then. Nothing since, so, of course, I'm still worried.

It must be very hard to sit and wait it out hoping to hear from your son. Very much he messages you again soon. 🙏🏻

I've been watching the live traffic webcams around Tampa, the wind is insane! Lots of transformers blowing, multiple tornadoes, large areas flooded.

Hopefully those who didn't evacuate are okay, there's many people who live in high rise buildings posting updates on social media

Anyone know how safe it is in Orlando? I see it’s not in the evacuation zone and far from where the worst part of the storm will be. But I have a friend on holiday there who hasn’t evacuated and it’s a bit worrying.

Hoping for good news for you lovely ♥️

I forgot about this!

Lots of Florida will be unaffected- depends where he lives. He may not have been advised to evacuate.

From the missing peoples lists. “Community sourced list of over 2000” Link And another direct to the list

The death toll is nearing 250 so it’s a bit naïve to think there’s only 300 missing.

ETA: the list nearly had 4000 😔

Reduced to category 1 now

I watch a couple of cruise channels. The ports have been closed and cruises diverted away.

Strangely in a storm you are better off in deep water than shallow.

300 isn't my guess - it's the stats being reported. If Helene is 4 times more deadly than Katrina I'd be very surprised

Literally look at the list. I couldn’t see where the news was reporting 300 missing. I could only find the official death toll, which is likely lower than the reality at this moment in time sadly. How would they know how many are missing when whole families, looking at that list, are missing and probably don’t have cellular access or electric. I’ve literally shown you the evidence so stop doubling down.

@GingerMaineCoon that is terrifying. Can’t believe the person filming asks the other man to ‘get next to it for perspective’ 🤔
I can’t imagine living somewhere where you can meet a creature like that when you’re going about your day.

My son goes to college and works at Disneyworld. As of 5 minutes ago they have no power (over 2 million so far in Florida without power) and the rain was sideways and the streets are already flooded around them. They are waiting for the worst of it to hit in about an hour or so. Winds are being tracked at 90mph. It looks like the eye will be just a little south of Orlando. He is about 15 minutes south of Disneyworld and they are predicting it 5 miles from his house if that helps for distance. Hopefully no more tornadoes and it will just be awful rain and wind. Sadly they are already reporting deaths and police and fire can't respond to calls due to the storm winds.

If it helps the hotels there, especially Disney and Universal are amazing at keeping guests safe. They are built to withstand hurricanes and the staff are trained in hurricane safety. I am sure your friend will be okay and taken care of.

I've been following the Tik Tok videos all night praying that everyone gets out of this safe and sound with minimal damage to their homes. Florida is my main childhood memory for me and my family, can't begin to fathom how scary this would be for them. Sending all my love and prayers to those with family and friends out there 🙏 xxx

I looked over at the Disney holiday pages on Facebook, they’re saying Orlando is expected to get the brunt between 2-3am local time, so anytime in the next hour or so.

Locals reporting flooding, leaking roofs and just insane noise from the wind (many saying it sounds like a freight train right outside the windows). There have been some tornado warnings in the area but nothing on whether they’ve touched down or the damage caused.

Until the sun comes up it’s going to be hard to tell the full extent of the damage. Yesterday Disney revised their plans to reopen their parks and said everywhere will stay shut until Friday (originally Disney Springs - the shopping/restaurant area - was going to reopen around 1pm local time).

From BBC

Downgraded to a Cat 1 now which is obviously great for everyone. Though I appreciate could still cause damage and destruction but hopefully not on the predicted scale.

And I guess this has other implications - next time a cat 5 hurricane approaches will people be less likely to evacuate as they will remember this and think the same will happen? I saw someone years ago talking about hurricane warnings and the danger of if you are too apocalyptic doom mongering in your warnings, if the destruction doesn't happen then next time a big chunk of people think "oh they don't know what they're talking about, they always say shit like this"

It looks like those multiple tornadoes where the worst part

I think it’s a little early to be saying it’s all not that bad!
And yes it’s been downgraded- they lose power when they cross land but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a risk and it is entirely as predicted.

As has been said all along, the water is the main concern not just the wind so it will be a few hours before they can say they are in the clear

My relatives have evacuated from their waterfront home on the West coast of Florida TO Orlando. That is their safe spot. My sister in law is pregnant and they have a young son so didn't want to evacuate too far from home and then find they couldn't get back home fast to check on their house. All the tourists who cancelled their holiday meant lots of accommodation options available around Orlando.

They will still get the hurricane later today but it will be weaker then and it's away from the storm surge areas as it's inland. Hotels should all be built to code and staff can provide advice. I FaceTimed them at around 10pm last night and the hotel reception where they were seemed busy and normal.

The eye seemed to break apart before it hit land. That's a very, very good thing. It was going to be an absolute monster.

CNN is showing footage from St Petersburg now. The flooding doesn't look too bad. Obviously the tides are rising until 7am their time but it doesn't appear to have been as awful as everyone predicted