Storm Surge Overwhelms Sarasota, Port Charlotte, Fort Myers And Other Parts Of Florida Before Milton Landfall | Videos

With Hurricane Milton being just about 20 miles west-southwest of Sarasota in Florida, just a few hours are left for the expected landfall in the Tampa Bay Area Wednesday evening. Amid that, storm surge was witnessed in several places in Florida, particularly Sarasota, Port Charlotte and Fort Myers.Here's a video from Sarasota:

Very sad situation now here in Sarasota looking out towards the outer barrier islands. Power flashes have now started dotting the sky, and Bird Key is being swallowed by extremely strong winds and storm surge as #Milton’s eye drifts slowly closer. #FLwx #HurricaneMilton pic.twitter.com/4hrNWSrKgi

— Ben McMillan (@WeatherLiveTV) October 9, 2024

Here's a video from Port Charlotte:

Surge coming onshore in Port Charlotte 15 minutes ago. (Via my brother) pic.twitter.com/4EzwuRguFc

— Steve Thompson (@stormchase4life) October 9, 2024

Here's a video from Fort Myers:

Storm surge on Fort Myers Beach, Florida #Milton #flwx Video by Joshua Sims pic.twitter.com/LcBaxikETv

— Kaitlin Wright (@wxkaitlin) October 10, 2024

The storm surge is also expected to bring along tornados along the Gulf Coast. St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Largo in Pinellas County were placed under a flash flood warning until 7:45 p.m. ETD. Since its formation in the Gulf of Mexico over the past weekend, the storm had strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane with concerns about further strengthening into a Category 6 hurricane. However, since then, it first weakened to a Category 4 hurricane late Tuesday and by Wednesday afternoon, it had weakened to a Category 3 Hurricane. Despite the weakening of strength, the National Hurricane Center expects the impact to not diminish. A spokesperson for the National Hurricane Center said that the decrease in strength would not affect the destruction of property as it would still have the same storm surge.“It’s really not going to change the expected storm surge, dangerous winds and heavy rainfall,” Daniel Brown, a spokesperson for the NHC, said.The National Hurricane Center said that Milton had a maximum sustained wind speed of 120 mph. It was close to making landfall, moving towards Florida with a speed of 15 mph.