Many students and their families had to rethink their Fall Break vacations due to hurricane damage in the southern states. But Hurricanes Milton and Helene meant must much to residents of those states than simply a ruined vacation.
Both hurricans formed on the Gulf of Mexico and hit the western area of Florida before turning northward.
The latest hurricane, Milton, made landfall on Oct. 9. Milton was categorized as a Category 5 a few days prior and hit the land as a Category 3, moving over land as a Category 1. At Milton’s peak, the winds reached 180 miles per hour. However, as Milton reached landfall, the winds declined to 105 mph, still causing major destruction.
In the same manner as the wind, the amount of rain decreased as Milton drew closer to land. The storm surge was expected to reach 15 feet, and the rain fell a total of 12.5 inches. The rain and winds caused major damage to trees and buildings. Visitors making their way to Florida vacation destinations farther south witnessed the destroyed billboards and huge, uprooted trees along with familiar stops boarded up due to damage. The devastation Florida residents faced resulted from wind, rain and tornados that forms. There were 19 confirmed tornados across the state, and 150 tornado warnings. The total number of tornadoes that had taken place in a single day was previously seven, the total number of tornadoes from Milton was 19.
Many cities declared emergencies, including Tampa and St. Petersburg. Residents were urged to find shelter, and more than 5.5 million people were urged to evacuate. Because of the huge number of people evacuating, gas stations state-wide were down 25 percent of the total amount of gas and the main Florida highway was backed up.
The destruction caused by Milton left at least three million people without power, billions of dollars in damages, and 24 fatalities.
Hurricane Milton came two weeks after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida. Helene was categorized as a Category 5 hurricane and hit as a Category 3 on Sept. 26. Helene was set to hit Florida but did more damage to surrounding states. North Carolina was hit with intense wind and historical flooding. The state saw more than 200 deaths from the destruction caused by Helene. Officials are still cleaning up the wreckage in both Florida and North Carolina.
The wreckage of Milton and Helene caused approximately $100 billion in destruction. These hurricanes were the 13th and 14th of the season, and they will go down in history as some of the most destructive hurricanes to ever hit Florida.
