Too late to evacuate

Milton is close to landfall, and while hopefully it will make landfall far enough south from Tampa to avoid the worst case scenarios it is very bad:

Residents along Florida’s Gulf Coast were issued a dire warning on Wednesday evening that it was now too late to evacuate and that they should take cover immediately as Hurricane Milton barreled toward them.

Several counties were under a rare extreme wind warning, and forecasters have said the storm threatens to bring a devastating storm surge of up to 13 feet. With landfall expected later this evening, the storm has already produced tornadoes across the state that knocked down trees, ravaged mobile homes and overturned vehicles.

Here’s what we’re covering:

• Stay home: Local officials told residents to stay home as they expected flying debris from winds of more than 100 miles per hour. In Manatee County, 911 emergency services were suspended because of the dangerous conditions outside. Emergency workers in Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg, were also off the roads as of Wednesday evening.
• Widespread impact: Avoiding the effects of Milton seemed impossible for almost all Florida residents on Wednesday afternoon, with 51 of 67 counties under a state of emergency. Read about the widespread threats.

Best of luck to our readers who live or who have loved ones in Florida.

…Milton has made landfall.