{"id":107462,"date":"2024-10-09T18:03:31","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T18:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/storm-surge-dangers-what-to-know-about-storm-surge-as-hurricane-milton-nears-florida\/"},"modified":"2024-10-09T18:03:31","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T18:03:31","slug":"storm-surge-dangers-what-to-know-about-storm-surge-as-hurricane-milton-nears-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/storm-surge-dangers-what-to-know-about-storm-surge-as-hurricane-milton-nears-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Storm surge dangers: What to know about storm surge as Hurricane Milton nears Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Thomas Simonetti for The Washington Post via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(TALLAHASSEE, FL.) — Storm surge is a major threat from Hurricane Milton, which is set to make landfall on Florida’s west coast as a Category 4 hurricane Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

A dangerous, record-breaking storm surge of up to 12 feet is expected for Tampa Bay and Fort Myers. Storm surge could reach a life-threatening 15 feet near Sarasota.<\/p>\n

Here is how storm surge works and why it’s so dangerous:<\/p>\n

When pressure falls in the center of the hurricane, water levels rise, and the water amasses while the storm is still over the open ocean.<\/p>\n

As the hurricane nears the shore, strong winds push that amassed water toward the coast and onto land.<\/p>\n

This can build walls of water — potentially as tall as 20 feet or more — which can quickly overpower walls and flood homes.<\/p>\n

In 2005, during Hurricane Katrina, at least 1,500 people died “directly, or indirectly, as a result of storm surge,” according to the National Hurricane Center.<\/p>\n

The risks can be even greater if storm surge combines with high tide, which could quickly create a catastrophic rise in water levels.<\/p>\n

This article was initially published in 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thomas Simonetti for The Washington Post via Getty Images (TALLAHASSEE, FL.) — Storm surge is a major threat from Hurricane Milton, which is set to make landfall on Florida’s west coast as a Category 4 hurricane Wednesday night. A dangerous, record-breaking storm surge of up to 12 feet is expectedRead More →<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,31,2],"tags":[273,271,276,274,270,123,275,133,124,272,102,103],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107462"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107462\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}