As Hurricane Milton prepares to make landfall in Florida later today, a huge tornado was seen crossing the 1-75 near Sunrise in the state, as people were warned to expect more
A terrifying tornado was caught on camera ripping through a major highway in the run up to the arrival of Hurricane Milton.
The twister, of unknown size, was spotted crossing the 1-75 near Sunrise, Florida – around 255 miles from Tampa Bay. It is unknown if there was any damage or any casualties caused by the force of nature. The National Weather Service in Miami posted a photo on the social platform X, writing: “TORNADO crossing I-75 as we speak! Seek shelter NOW!”
People in the area have been warned tornadoes will be “frequent” as Hurricane Milton approaches. Although they are expected to be weak, they will move into highly populated areas and potentially put people’s lives at risk. NBC reported: “Wednesday and Thursday will feel the impacts locally from Hurricane Milton. Tornadoes will be frequent, but weak in the bands of Milton.
“We’ve had several warnings Wednesday morning in low-populated areas, but the risk for them to move into higher-populated areas will increase as the day goes on. The outer rain bands will be moving from west to east and spiralling across the area.”
Category four Milton is hours away from arriving in Florida, where it is expected to touch down around Tampa Bay. Millions of people have fled the major storm but some have chosen to bunker down and see it out, despite its 160mph winds and huge 12 foot storm surge.
Governor Ron DeSantis said to people choosing to remain home: “Just know if you get 10 feet of storm surge, you can’t just hunker down with that. If you’re on the southern part of this storm, you are going to get storm surge. It’s churning massive amounts of water, and that water is going to come out. Man, if you’re anywhere in the eye or south, you are going to get major storm surge.”
Most businesses are closed as people finished storm preparations and got to where they intend to ride out the storm. On Wednesday morning, Pinellas County sent people text messages, emails and direct calls to warn of the dangers. Similar methods are used in neighboring Hillsborough County and other locations.
Emergency Management Director Cathie Perkins said: “This is it, folks, those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out and you need to get out now.” Perkins said 13 public shelters are open for people with no other option to escape the storm and that major bridges around Tampa Bay would begin closing in the afternoon.
Perkins also said people should not feel a sense of relief because of indications Milton might come ashore south of Tampa. She added: “Everybody in Tampa Bay should assume we are going to be ground zero.”