The US has been on alert for Hurricane Milton, which was re-upgraded to a Category 5 shortly before landfall, affecting hundreds of kilometers of coastline. Evacuations were ordered for more than 1 million people in Florida’s west coast counties. Milton’s unusual track and rapid strengthening raise concerns about the storm’s impact.

The hurricane is located about 775 km southwest of Tampa, Florida, with sustained winds of 270 km, according to the latest update from the US National Hurricane Center.

Tellingly, over 58,000 lightning strikes were spotted in Milton’s eyewall in the last 14 hours.

More than 1,500 flights were canceled in the US on Wednesday as the hurricane hit Florida. According to the website FlightAware, a total of 1,573 flights have been canceled and already more than 450 are expected to be delayed on Wednesday. Almost all flights from Orlando, Tampa, Sarasota and Fort Myers have been canceled.

Joe Biden made a dramatic appeal about the hurricane. “Those of you who have been ordered to evacuate leave now, it’s a matter of life or death,” warned the US president, who postponed his foreign trip ahead of the hurricane.

“If you have an evacuation order, you should move out now, now, now… You should have already evacuated. It’s a matter of life and death, and that’s not an exaggeration,” Biden said during a hurricane briefing.

Hurricane Milton is making landfall in Florida less than two weeks after the devastating passage of Hurricane Helene, which caused more than 200 deaths and widespread destruction in many states.

Damages in Florida from Hurricane Milton are already projected to exceed $1 billion, according to a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) official.

The current toll for extreme weather disasters in the U.S. is around $23 or $24 billion so far this year, Adam Smith, a NOAA climatologist who helps the U.S. government with the toll on extreme weather disasters, told CNN.

This number is unofficial and subject to change. Smith told CNN in an email that the tally includes Hurricanes Debbie, Helene and Milton, which NOAA plans to add to the list — and could also add to the tally damage from severe summer storms.

“It will be some time before we can get our first sense of the magnitude of the cost,” he said. NOAA expects the effects of both Hurricane Helene and Milton to cost “many tens of billions of dollars each.”

Last year, the US had a record 23 disasters costing at least $1 billion through September – with 28 such disasters this year, the most on record.

Disasters and stronger storms strain the federal budget. even though they were disbursed to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency
Need) $20 billion. However, the agency will need more funding from Congress until December or January.

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