H​urricane Milton is now pushing across the Florida peninsula with destructive storm surge, strong winds and potentially catastrophic flooding rainfall.

(​LIVE UPDATES: Milton’s Impacts, Reports And More)

H​ere’s the latest status: Milton is accelerating east-northeastward across Central Florida and will be in the Atlantic by sunrise Thursday morning. It is currently located in the Orlando metro area. I​t made landfall Wednesday evening south of Tampa Bay in Siesta Key, Florida.

Bands of heavy rain containing strong wind gusts are spreading across parts of the state, as shown in the radar snapshot below.

A​ “flash flood emergency” is in effect for portions of Tampa Bay, including St. Petersburg, Tampa, Riverview and Palmetto, Florida. So far, 10​-17 inches of rain has fallen across southern Pinellas County, coastal Hillsborough County and western Manatee County. St. Petersburg, Florida, reported more than five inches of rain in just one hour along with a gust to 90 mph in that hour. Parts of downtown Tampa have flooded.

A​ “flash flood emergency” is in effect for Pasco, Hillsborough and Polk Counties, including Lakeland, Winter Haven and Wesley Chapel. So far, 8-12 inches of rain have fallen.

Parts of Tampa and St. Petersburg have recorded 10+ inches of rainfall while downtown St. Petersburg has recorded nearly 17 inches through midnight Thursday. ​Multiple tornadoes have been confirmed in southern Florida.

Hurricane-force winds are sweeping through Central Florida. Winds have gusted up to 105 mph in Egmont Channel, 102 mph in Sarasota, 101 mph in St. Petersburg, 97 mph in Venice, 93 mph in Tampa and 90 mph in Venice. A sustained wind of 78 mph was recorded in Venice at an elevated station. St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field and several cranes in downtown have taken serious damage.

To the east, Orlando International has record a wind gust to 86 mph, Daytona Beach to 78 mph, and Leesburg, Florida to 75 mph.

Water levels have risen by about 8+ feet near Sarasota. A​ storm surge of 3-6 feet has been recorded from Naples to Charlotte Harbor, with more inundation likely occurring in Manatee and Sarasota counties. Water levels fell by around 5 feet at the top of Tampa Bay due to blowout winds while the mouth of Tampa Bay saw a climb in water levels by 1-2 feet. Naples saw a storm surge of 5.75 feet.

H​ere’s where hurricane and storm surge alerts are in effect: Tropical storm and hurricane warnings continue for much of Florida and parts of coastal South Carolina and Georgia. These will be discontinued when conditions improve.

A storm surge warning stretches along Florida’s Gulf Coast from Flamingo northward to Yankeetown, including Charlotte Harbor and Tampa Bay. Part of the Atlantic coastline is also in a storm surge warning, from Sebastian Inlet, Florida, northward to Altamaha Sound, Georgia, including the St. Johns River in northeast Florida.

This means a life-threatening water rise from storm surge is expected in these areas into Thursday.

H​ere’s the latest timing and intensity forecast: Milton will continue weakening gradually as the storm moves over Florida because of increasing wind shear and land interaction. It will remain a hurricane when it reaches the Atlantic coast.

I​mpacts Forecast

S​torm Surge

S​ome storm surge will also inundate parts of Florida’s east coast as well as coastal Georgia and South Carolina because of winds blowing onshore when Milton passes through Thursday.

Wind Damage

The most devastating winds capable of structural damage, downing trees and knocking out power will occur near where the center of Milton tracks through central Florida toward the Orlando and Cape Canaveral areas. Power outages could last for days in these areas.

Rainfall Flooding

C​atastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding – and moderate to major river flooding – is expected from Milton in the central and northern Florida Peninsula.

T​otals across these areas could be 10 to 14 inches, with locally up to 18 inches through Thursday.

N​OAA’s Weather Prediction Center has issued a rare “high risk” flood threat for parts of central Florida, including the Tampa Bay and Orlando areas (pink shading below), for Wednesday and Thursday because of this excessive rainfall.

(For even more granular weather data tracking in your area, view your 15-minute forecast in our Premium Pro experience.)

R​ecap Of Milton So Far

T​ropical Depression Fourteen formed on the morning of Oct. 5 in the southwest Gulf of Mexico and shortly thereafter was deemed Tropical Storm Milton.

T​he storm then rapidly intensified into Hurricane Milton about 24 hours later at 1 p.m. CDT on Oct. 6.

T​he next day, Milton underwent another incredible round of rapid intensification. Winds increased from 90 mph at 1 a.m. CDT on Oct. 7 to 180 mph just 15 hours later at 4 p.m. CDT.

Milton’s 180 mph winds made it one of only nine other Atlantic hurricanes to hit that wind threshold or higher.

Its pressure dropped to 897 millibars, the lowest observed in any Atlantic hurricane since Wilma in 2005. That also ranks as the fifth-lowest pressure on record for any Atlantic hurricane.

M​ilton made landfall south of Tampa Bay mid-evening on Wednesday.