Dave Elias: Tampa Bay Reporter gives an update on Hurricane Milton before it makes landfall

Hurricane Milton has more than doubled in size as it heads towards land in Florida.  

Its wind field extends around 400 kilometres from the centre.  

It is still a Category 4 hurricane and is expected to make landfall later today. 

Officials have warned life-threatening storm surge, destructive winds and flooding will happen.  

Reporter Dave Elias in Fort Myers told Mike Hosking the rapid intensification that occurred with Milton was unlike anything they’ve seen.  

He said that whether or not it slows down before hitting the Gulf Coast remains to be seen, but that’s what everyone in the region is hoping for. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right to Milton. It's just starting to arrive in Florida.
And it is political in the sense the Vice President's weighing.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Into any company that or individual that might use this
crisis to exploit people who are desperate for help through
illegal fraud or price gouging, whether it be at the
gas pump, the airport, or the hotel counter. Know that
we are monitoring these behaviors and the situation on the

(00:28):
ground very closely, and anyone taking advantage of consumers will
be held accountable.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
All right. Dabelized as a reporter in the area, he's
with us day morning.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
To you, Well, good morning, how are you very well?

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Indeed, so you're in Fort mys Are you in the
middle of it yet or not?

Speaker 3 (00:44):
No, we are not, but I can tell you that
the outer bands are starting to hit us here and
we have had probably about a half dozen confirmed tornado
reports here in southwest Florida this morning. It's been a
chaos just trying to get ready to go to work.
There is now a slight break and I'm actually driving

(01:07):
into the television station now on my way to work
for what's going to be a very long day.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Indeed, you're going to work for obvious reasons, and most
people leaving the state.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
They are.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
And as I drive into Fort Myers now, I'm driving
across one of our many bridges into the city, and
I am not seeing any cars out on the roadway.
And for good reason. I've been monitoring social media and
there has already been a lot of damage just from
the tornadoes and the very heavy reins that we have

(01:42):
coming in this morning, and the worst is yet to come.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Is this accepted broadly as being accurate? In other words,
that I've built this up for several days as being
bigger than anything we've seen in a century. Your life
is at risk. This is going to be like something
you've never seen before. Is that true?

Speaker 3 (02:00):
I mean, you know, according to our weather forecasters, our meteorologists,
and from everything that I'm seeing, absolutely yes. With the
rapid intensification that occurred was unlike anything we've seen. Now,
whether or not it slows down before it slams in
to the Gulf coast, that remains to be seen. But

(02:21):
that is certainly what people in all of all the
ghost Gulf coasts are hoping for, because we don't know
exactly where it's going to hit yet, but we have
had so I lived through Ian. I was here through
Hurricane Ian and covered it. Fort Myers Beach was devastated.
Said about island, these are all tourists areas, uh and
those areas still as we speak, were recovering. We just

(02:45):
had Hurricane Helene just over a week ago. There was
extensive flooding from that. This area can't take much more.
And I've talked to a lot of people who have said,
We're just not sure how much longer we can stay here.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Up to two in the afternoon where you are wins
it hit wins winds, you know the doc l.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
We are looking for later tonight. I believe they're saying
around at eight o'clock is when it's going to get
pretty bad for us. But conditions are going to continue
to deteriorate throughout the afternoon and well into the evening.
But after midnight here our time, we are expecting some

(03:29):
of the worst that Milton has to offer.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
And what means, what's the big fee way you dive,
is that the rhine is that the wind is at
the suge.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
It is the storm surge here, and that we're looking
at ten to fifteen feet of storm surge that's being
predicted for some of our coastal areas. Hurricane Ian was
twelve feet and it consumed again a big part of
our coastal region. Ten to fifteen is going to do

(04:00):
the same thing and perhaps even worse. And we've already
seen evacuations here, and I can tell you most people
heeded those warnings that saw them.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Dave go, well, we'll stay in touch. I appreciate it
pretty much. Dave Alas, who's Tampa based reporter in Florida.
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