MIAMI — Hurricane Milton is getting much stronger quickly! On Monday, it was reported that this hurricane is expected to bring very strong winds and high water levels to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula before it heads to Florida in the next few days.
This new hurricane comes right after Hurricane Helene, which caused a lot of damage and danger. Because of Milton, some people in Florida have to leave their homes again because it’s not safe.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Milton is a very dangerous Category 4 hurricane, which means it has super strong winds blowing at 150 miles per hour (240 kilometers per hour).
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that 51 out of the 67 counties in Florida are in a state of emergency. He wants to make sure the area is cleaned up from Hurricane Helene before Milton arrives later this week. “We need as much of this debris picked up as possible,” DeSantis said. “This creates a safety hazard, and it will also increase the damage that Milton could do with flying debris.”
The NHC also warned that storm surges, which are when the ocean water rises higher than normal, could raise water levels by five feet (1.5 meters) along the Yucatan Peninsula. This means there could be really big and dangerous waves hitting the coast. Florida could see 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain, and in some places, it could be up to 15 inches! This rain can cause flash flooding, especially in cities.
Emergency workers are still trying to help people affected by Hurricane Helene, which sadly killed at least 230 people in several states in the southeast of the US.
With the presidential election coming up on November 5, there have been some false claims going around, especially by Republican candidate Donald Trump. He falsely claimed that Democrat Kamala Harris was misusing money that should have been used for disaster relief. Deanne Criswell, who leads the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said these claims are not true. She also warned that “these storms are bringing more water than they ever have and so while we have the wind risk, the water is what’s killing people, so please listen to your local officials, seek safety.”
Experts say climate change might be making hurricanes get stronger faster because warmer oceans give them more energy.
President Joe Biden was updated about Hurricane Milton and said his team is getting ready with resources to help save lives.
Hurricane Helene hit Florida on September 26 as a Category 4 storm, bringing heavy rain that caused flooding in faraway places, like North Carolina and Tennessee. Helene was the deadliest natural disaster to hit the mainland US since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the death toll is still rising. Many communities, especially in the mountains, are left without electricity and clean drinking water.
Governor DeSantis mentioned that power has been restored in Florida since last week, but many teams are working in other states that were badly hit by Helene. He warned that Hurricane Milton will remain strong as it moves across Florida’s east coast.
