10/07/2024

As Hurricane Milton Nears, the Tampa Bay Area is Especially Vulnerable

The risks from storm surge are severe

Hurricane Helene besieged the Tampa Bay region with flooding not seen in generations. But as another storm churns toward Florida’s west coast, Bob Weisberg, a professor emeritus at the University of South Florida, said he is more worried now than he was before Helene struck.

"I'm fearful," Weisberg, an expert on storm surge, said Sunday. "This storm looks like it will actually make landfall along the west coast."

Meteorology models are still working to project just how large and intense Hurricane Milton will become by midweek, and what path it will likely take as it churns across the Gulf of Mexico. If the storm veers south of Tampa Bay, the worst of Milton’s storm surge — when fierce winds push a mass of water onshore — would miss the area. But if Milton makes landfall in the Tampa Bay region or just north, as is possible, it will have hit one of the most susceptible places in the United States to severe flooding from a powerful hurricane.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Associated Press.