Anderson cooper in braden florida, where the winds have really picked up significantly just in the last ten minutes or so, they are really starting to whip here in downtown by, by The River. I just want to get a sense of sort of the wins. Its sort of hard to tell when youre actually in it you get a sense in the light over there. Theres just been a steady downpour of rain and you can see it there. It reflected in the light as i was talking to erin in the last hour, there is a lot of along The River here. Theres a lot of Palm Trees, a lot of these really large branches of these Palm Trees are just ripping off flying through the air and there are sort of littered all over the ground. I want to walk if i cant over here a little bit and show you the Manatee River is over here. And nellis, is that way. About ten minutes ago, we could see lights over in pinellas obscures me in palmetto, we dont see the lights over there anymore. I dont know if theyre still there and just the visibilities. So
Being felt everywhere. It has come in as a category three storm with 120 mile per hour sustained it went even higher gusts according to the national hurricane center, we are talking to Rental Rain extremely dangerous wind. What is being described is lifethreatening Storm Surges that are now pounding portions of the state. At this hour, a Lifethreatening Flash Flood warning has just been issued for nearly 2 Million people. That includes tampa, saint petersburg, and clearwater. You just saw Bill Weir in st. Petersburg. You could see all of that developing there right now, over half 1 Million homes and businesses have lost power with conditions deteriorating by the minute this storm has also spawned a Record Number of tornadoes, all across the state of florida, far beyond where the storm has actually making direct hit tonight, there have been 19 confirmed tornadoes. So far, the sheriff Of St. Lucie county has just confirmed that there have been multiple fatalities after an outbreak of tor
That Storm Surge could be the worst part of this storm. So we will be on that during this hour. Ill be watching. Thanks alex. Thank you. We are going straight to bill karins. Msnbcs meteorologist. Nbc News Meteorologist for the latest on the situation there. Bill, what can we expect now in florida . This is when all the damage is happening. We cant show you where the worst Storm Surge is. But we know it is moving in. We have had reports of a ten foot Storm Surge in sarasota. As we go down the coast, all the way to naples, its been at least five to six foot Storm Surge. That is higher than helene in most cases so we have new significant damage that is being done tonight. As the storm is moving inland. The winds are still pushing that water against the coast. It is still rushing in. The other thing you will notice, the black line is the center. Just north of the center which has been the past five hours over tampa, torrential rain. We are talking two to three inches per hour. Now that is
Out of florida, millions of people under threat from Monster Size Hurricane milton. That powerful Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 120 miles an hour has come ashore. The eyewall made landfall half an hour ago in siesta key, which is a Barrier Island off of the coast of sarasota. Right now, the storm with a diameter of 450 miles, is bringing lifethreatening winds and potentially devastating Storm Surge up to 13 feet. Earlier today, the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, noaa, took steal drones on the gulf of mexico. They showed 40 nautical miles away from meltons eye, the winds were gusting 76 miles an hour and waves were cresting up at 28 feet high. That powerful storm is hitting land. For those not in the eyewalls direct path, there is reason to be vigilant as much of florida is under a tropical Storm Watch or warning. The national Weather Service also issued warnings in parts of south and central florida, where milton has spawned 10 tornadoes. Airports,
Biggest storm of the century could make landfall within the hour. Live images from st. Petersburg on your screen right now, you see our Bill Weir there in that picture. Hell be with us in a Moment Hurricane Milton now on a much faster track toward land, expected to hit florida with 150 mile an Hour Wind gusts and a destructive Storm Surge. Conditions deteriorating by the minute officials now saying it is no longer safe to be outside. And lets show you what it looks like On The Roads already flooded right now, the Monster Storm, one of the most powerful on records still growing after nearly doubling in size in just 24 hours absolutely incredible new Satellite Images here on your screen. The Lightning Strikes from a storm that officials warn james the coastline of florida forever. And right now, Tropical Storm Winds now stretch its more than 300 miles from that. I and lets just show you some of the pictures of what it looks like about 40 miles from the eye in the gulf. Some of these wave