TAMPA, Fla. – Hurricane Milton is a monster storm and represents a major threat to Florida’s Gulf Coast region.
Just as Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, one leading supply chain expert warns that Milton could be a catastrophic event for the west coast of Florida.
“We don’t know the details of that right now, but it certainly has all the makings,” Everstream Analytics chief meteorologist Jon Davis told FOX Weather.
‘We’ve never seen anything like this’
The storm is poised to become one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida.
Davis said its intensity and unprecedented track have the potential to cause long-lasting impacts on energy, agriculture, tourism and supply chains.
This unique eastward trajectory across the Gulf of Mexico increases the risk for areas along the west coast of Florida, especially Tampa Bay – one of the fastest-growing areas in the U.S., according to Davis.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.
While the storm is not expected to directly strike major offshore oil and gas production areas, it will likely shut down operations in the southern and eastern portions of the Gulf of Mexico, Davis adds.
This will lead to disruptions in oil and natural gas supply.
“The extent of that will come down to how, overall, Milton interacts with the Tampa area – does it go right over Tampa? Does it go just north? Or just south?” Davis told FOX Weather. “But, suffice it to say, we are going to have major power issues and major loss of power across the central portion of the Florida Peninsula.”
From an agricultural standpoint, the crop of the biggest concern is citrus.
Davis said Milton’s path is expected to intersect with Florida’s citrus belt, potentially causing severe damage to trees and leading to production losses for years to come.
“It looks like there will be major issues by late Wednesday and Thursday,” he noted.
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According to Davis, Florida’s tourism industry, especially in the Tampa area, will likely experience significant disruptions.
Infrastructure damage and widespread power outages will force many businesses to close temporarily. The recovery process is expected to take weeks if not months.
“The amount of tourist dollars that occur … looks like it is going to be severely impacted over the next two or three days,” he said. “This will be a long-term situation overall, much like what we saw with Helene a couple of weeks ago.”
The combination of Milton and the recent devastation caused by Helene will further exacerbate supply chain disruptions in the region, according to Davis.
Areas that were previously impacted following Helene’s landfall, such as the Big Bend of Florida and parts of North Tampa, may face even more severe consequences.
“From a weather situation perspective, this is going to be a major global event,” Davis said. “This is going to be the kind of event potentially that we are going to talk about for many years.”
