Hurricane Milton: Watch live webcams as 'storm of the century' batters Florida (original) (raw)

Watch live as the potentially devastating Hurricane Milton slams into the Florida coast.

The rapid growth of the hurricane has left many experts speechless

Hurricane Milton continues to swirl in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, with wind speeds hitting 160mph on Wednesday morning. It escalated back down to a Category 3 storm on Wednesday, putting the Tampa Bay area at the highest risk of Milton's devastating fury.

A terrifying 15ft storm surge could hit Florida's west coast, triggering widespread flooding and hazardous flying debris. Numerous live webcams are set up along the Florida coast, including in Clearwater, Key West, and Tampa itself.

You can witness all the terrifying scenes across the state as Milton makes landfall from Wednesday night through early Friday morning. The hurricane's arrival comes just days after Helene hit Florida, claiming over 220 lives.

Thousands of people have sought shelter at local schools while they wait for the storm to make landfall (

Image:

Anadolu via Getty Images)

Helene made landfall about 150 miles north of Tampa in the Florida Panhandle, causing drowning deaths due to surges that were about 5-8ft (1.5-2.5m) above normal tide levels. With Milton, forecasters are warning of a possible 10-15ft (3-4.5m) storm surge in Tampa Bay.

This is the highest surge ever predicted for that location and has resulted in evacuation orders for communities all along the coast. The National Hurricane Center warned that Milton is "expected to be a dangerous major hurricane" when it reaches the Florida coast, reports the Mirror.

Civilians rush to buy planks of wood as they try to prevent damage from the upcoming storm (

Image:

Getty Images)

"A northeastward motion with some increase in forward speed is expected" through Wednesday night, the hurricane center said. President Joe Biden, who delayed an overseas trip to stay at the White House to oversee the response to Hurricane Milton, cautioned that it "could be one of the worst storms in 100 years to hit Florida".

In a rapid intensification, Milton transformed from a tropical storm with 40mph winds to a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane in just 46.5 hours. As the storm is expected to maintain considerable strength while traversing Florida, hurricane warnings were expanded early Tuesday to include parts of the state's east coast.

Those attempting to flee the storm's wrath, have found themselves in bumper-to-bumper traffic with numerous gas stations running out of fuel (

Image:

AFP via Getty Images)

This year's storm season has been dubbed the strangest on record by scientists. Before the season even kicked off, forecasters anticipated a hectic Atlantic hurricane season, which was confirmed when Beryl became the earliest storm to achieve Category 5 status.

Tampa International Airport suspended flights Tuesday morning, announcing on X that it cannot serve as a shelter for individuals or vehicles. St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, located in a mandatory evacuation zone, shut down after its last flight departed Tuesday, canceling all flights for Wednesday and Thursday.

The rapid growth of the hurricane has left many experts speechless (

Image:

BBC)

Orlando International Airport ranked as the seventh busiest in the nation and the most trafficked in Florida, announced it would halt operations Wednesday morning. Additionally, at least three major theme parks—Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, and SeaWorld—are closing their doors, with the latter two remaining shut on Thursday and Disney likely to do the same.

Prior to the storm, Tampa Bay's mayor pleaded with her constituents to evacuate. "I can say this without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die. This is something that I have never seen in my life and anyone who was born and raised in the Tampa Bay area has never seen this before," said Jane Castor.

Weather specialist Jim Dale exclusively told The Mirror that while Milton may not result in as many deaths as Helene — largely in part due to the rush to evacuate — there is a significant chance the storm will widespread damage and dangerous weather phenomena.

"We could have tornadoes within a hurricane as it crosses land, you could have super tornadoes and the hurricane at the same time. In exactly the same way as hurricanes, there's a league table," said Dale.

The people of the Sunshine State have bore witness to a tornado descending and traveling across Interstate 75. The National Weather Service in Miami posted a photo of the funnel crossing the highway Wednesday morning on the social media platform X.