In today’s Quickcast:
A hurricane watch has been issued for Lake Okeechobee as Hurricane Milton rapidly strengthens on its way to Florida’s Gulf Coast. Milton grew into a Category 5 hurricane Monday morning.
Weakening to a Category 3 is forecast when Milton makes landfall on Florida’s Gulf coast in the middle of the week. The most likely path suggests it could make landfall in or near the Tampa Bay area.
In the 2 p.m. update from the National Hurricane Center, maximum sustained winds were 175 mph, up 15 mph from two hours earlier. Milton was about 700 miles from Tampa and was moving eastward at 9 mph.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Saturday declared a state of emergency in 35 of 67 counties ahead of Milton’s expected landfall. In the state of emergency bulletin, DeSantis included Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. That number has since increased to 51 counties.
The governor said Monday that 5,000 National Guard members have been deployed in response to Milton. An additional 3,000 members are expected to be mobilized before landfall.
Storm surge and hurricane watches
According to the National Hurricane Center, Milton is forecast to move east-southeastward to eastward for the next 36 hours or so, followed by a turn toward the northeast at a faster forward speed. It is expected to speed up and intensify between Monday and Tuesday.
Catch the Quickcast with Najahe Sherman weekdays at 4PM ET streaming on the CBS Miami app and CBSMiami.com
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