Takeaways from Hurricane Milton: The ‘fingerprints of climate change’

At least 18 people were killed, more than 100 buildings destroyed, and there were widespread power blackouts in Florida as a result of Hurricane Milton’s devastating effects on the state.

Experts and local authorities are relieved that the storm wasn’t as bad as it was, with Governor Ron DeSantis claiming the state had avoided the “worst-case scenario” despite the storm’s severity.

What can we learn from the storm in particular:

‘ Explosive ‘ intensification

In four short days, Milton descended into one of the region’s fiercest hurricanes after emerging in the Gulf of Mexico. From Sunday to Monday, the storm’s wind speed surged from 97km/h (60mph) to 290km/h (180mph), among the strongest in decades.

“The storms you now get grow into monster extreme weather events rather quickly”, Susan Glickman with the CLEO Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to climate education and advocacy, told Al Jazeera. In contrast to hurricanes that have been occurring for decades, they are unnatural disasters.

Additionally, these modern hurricanes with supercharged power are more difficult to prepare for. “Some people don’t have time to prepare, and then they just cause more damage”, she said.

Glickman, who had her home flooded by Hurricane Helene two weeks prior, evacuated from Belleair Beach, Florida’s west coast, to avoid Milton. After relocating 16km (10 miles) inland, a falling tree crushed her car.

While meteorologists expected Milton to weaken before hitting Florida’s shores, they were ready for an “epic catastrophe”, spurring calls for more than seven million people to evacuate.

Weaker storm but stronger tornadoes

In its final approach to Florida, Milton was slowed down by competing winds over the Gulf of Mexico as a result of what forecasters refer to as vertical wind shearing. As a result, by the time it made landfall, it had dropped from a Category 5 storm – the highest classification – to a Category 3 with maximum wind gusts of 195km/h (121mph).

That caused the storm surge – the rise in coastal water levels that can flood homes – to cap off at a lower-than-dreaded 4.5 metres (15ft) in Tampa Bay, the most vulnerable low-lying urban area in Milton’s path.

“The storm surge, which was so feared, didn’t happen because it]the storm] went a little south”, Glickman said.

]1/2] 5pm EDT: Preliminary post-landfall analysis of storm surge from Hurricane #Milton indicates peak water levels reached 5 to 10 feet above ground level between Siesta Key, FL and Ft. Myers Beach, FL, including Charlotte Harbor.

However, Milton did cause an unusual barrage of tornadoes, dozens of which were unleashed throughout the state. Some of the state’s worst carnage was caused by these vicious twisters, with one tornado in Fort Pierce, which left at least five people dead in a retirement home.

According to Michael Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center in the United States, “the tornadoes were really kind of supercharged compared to the typical tornadoes you see in a hurricane environment.” “They were longer living. They were more powerful. There were more of them”.

#Hurricane #Milton produced 35+ preliminary #tornado reports and 126 #tornado warnings. Here are your Top 5 most-prolific tornado-producing tropical cyclones. The Top 5 were already already reached by #Beryl earlier this year.

Hurricane Ivan 2004 (118 tornadoes)
Hurricane Beulah 1967 (115… pic. twitter.com/knI29bvm5q

Billions in damage

According to the credit rating agency Fitch, Milton also caused more than three million people’s lives to lose, shut down major international airports and ports, and caused property damage that could cost insurers as much as $ 50 billion.

At a news conference on Friday, US President Joe Biden stated that Milton and Helene highlight the need to strengthen the country’s energy system.

Officials in Florida cautioned that the recovery process will take time and effort. In St Pete Beach, a barrier-island city, most houses are uninhabitable with no sewer or water service, according to Mayor Adrian Petrila.

More than 6,500 national guard soldiers are stationed to assist in the search for those who were lost or stranded during the storm.

A role was made by climate change.

According to experts, Milton was likely wetter and windier than previous hurricanes because of weather patterns that had been influenced by global warming.

A major factor, they said, is the ocean’s warming temperatures, which serve as turbo fuel for brewing storms in the Atlantic Ocean.

“All across the North Atlantic and especially the Gulf of Mexico, the temperatures are record-breaking right now”, Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, told Al Jazeera. And we are aware of the ocean’s heat as the fuel for these storms. This extra energy makes]these storms] stronger. It makes them intensify more rapidly”.

Francis added that the warming water likely spurred heavier rainfall as Milton crashed into Florida, which recorded 457mm (18 inches) of precipitation in some inland areas, submerging vehicles.

Milton’s rainfall increased by 20 to 30%, and its winds increased by about 10%, according to a flash study released by World Weather Attribution.

These storms exhibit “very obvious signs of climate change and the climate crisis,” Francis said.

Storm of disinformation

Front-line workers battled a flurry of conspiracy theories about the hurricane and the federal response as they raced to clear debris-ridden roads, restore power, and find missing people.

As US voters prepare for the November 5 elections, some false claims included that Milton had been geo-engineered using “frequency waves” or that it had been targeted in some areas.

On social media, users shared AI-generated photos showing fake imagery of hurricane damage, including to Orlando’s Disney World.

Former US president Donald Trump’s discredited claim that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) used undocumented immigrants to receive hurricane relief funds has been refuted.

Source: Aljazeera