Hurricane Milton is expected to be so ferocious, it will cover nearly every beach on Florida’s west coast — and forever change the Sunshine State’s coastline, experts have warned.
At least 95% of Florida’s west coast beaches are forecast to be inundated — or continuously covered by ocean water — when the hurricane, predicted to be one of the strongest ever, is expected to make landfall Wednesday as many still recover from Helene, the US Geological Survey.
“This is the most severe level of coastal change,” the federal agency warned — while saying that “Milton’s waves and surge” could cause “erosion and overwash” to 100% of the state’s beaches.
“The significance of the coastal change forecast for Milton’s impact to the Florida west coast cannot be overstated,” USGS scientist Kara Doran said.
The damage is even worse because “communities are more vulnerable to this storm’s impacts due to the erosion that occurred recently from Helene,” Doran stressed.
Imagery from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration after Helene showed Florida’s west coast already experienced “overwash or inundation and complete erosion of those dunes,” meaning protective banks of sand usually along the shoreline no longer exist in many locations, the expert noted.
USGS experts forecast a “severe” level of coastal change that will likely cause flooding behind sand dunes, and endanger coastal communities.
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While the USGS forecast is a “worst-case scenario,” the agency wrote, the National Hurricane Center has also warned that Milton may bring life-threatening storm surge, hurricane-force winds and heavy rain, specifically to the Tampa Bay region.
During an overnight update going into Wednesday, the center noted Milton was a “Catastrophic Category 5” storm expected to make landfall later that night.
The storm was 300 miles southwest of Tampa early Wednesday with sustained winds at 160 mph, the center said.
Hurricane Milton joined a long list of destructive storms that have changed the Florida coastline, according to the USGS, including Hurricanes Ian, Irma, Matthew and Michael.
