Massive flooding from Hurricane Milton is likely as the storm continues to develop and make it's way towards the Florida West Coast. Unfortunately there's one thing already happening - It's raining. And it's been raining since yesterday morning.
There's already a lot of standing water across Florida's West Coast. According to PBS, "More than 40 trillion gallons of rain drenched the Southeast United States" from the Hurricane Helene. Adding to that was all the rain Florida got over the weekend. An undeveloped tropical system has been sliding across Florida and is bringing with it inches and inches of rain. From Naples to Tampa and northward, the ponds are full. The ditches are full. The rivers are swollen. Many streets already have standing water - and there's a lot more coming.
Massive Flooding From Hurricane Milton
As of Monday morning, here's a look at the potential rainfall coming from Milton.
The hardest hit areas will be the places already flooded from Hurricane Helene + this weekend's rains, which are still happening. But as we all know too well, the rain is just one part of the story. There will be surge. How much surge is still undetermined. It really depends on where the storm ends up. Because this storm is coming from the west, and not the south, the rules are a little different. Even people to the north of landfall will be seeing surge this time.
Standing Water + Rain + Surge = Massive Flooding
To be very blunt, some of the same areas that were flooded during Helene, and have been seeing rain all weekend, are about to get surge added into the mix. If the storm does make landfall in the Tampa area, there will be surge unlike anything they've ever seen. The estimates are currently at 8-12 feet of surge. 5-10 feet is the estimate in Southwest Florida. Fort Myers Beach will almost certainly be under water - mandatory evacuations have already been ordered.
Stay up to date with the anticipated massive flooding and changes to the track of Hurricane Milton on our Hurricane Central page.
