“This is a once-in-a-thousand-year meteorological event.” The Attorney General of Florida, Republican Ashley Moody, highlighted on Fox the uniqueness of Hurricane Milton, which hit several areas of that North American state in recent days. The person in charge described the meteorological phenomenon as “unique” and gave an example: in just 24 hours “27 tornadoes were recorded” in Florida.

The weather data really shows an extreme situation. In St. Petersburg, a Florida city near Tampa, it rained intensely: in one hour it rained 129 millimeters; in three hours, 230 millimeters. In a simple comparison, It rained in three hours what was supposed to rain in August. It is usually the most humid in St. Petersburg.

Hurricane Milton, which made landfall in category 3 (the maximum is 5), This led to several records being broken. For example, in Saint Petersburg, one of the cities most affected by bad weather, it had never rained so much in 24 hours. In another equally extreme phenomenon, 125 tornado warnings were issued, the highest number ever recorded in the state of Florida in a single day.

THIS IS CRAZY! St. Petersburg has reported 5.09 inches of rain in ONE HOUR and 9.04 inches in 3 hours.

That’s rarer than a millennial rain event!

Rainfall thresholds in 1,000 years there:
5.56”/1 hour
7.16”/2 hours
8.50”/3 hours @MyRadarWX pic.twitter.com/9QUHYaXPed

—Matthew Cappucci (@MatthewCappucci) October 10, 2024

As Ashley Moody indicated, Milton’s stay in Florida was characterized by its asymmetry. In other words, the western regions of the state were very affectedas well as some parts of the east. was a hurricane which evolved quite quickly and therefore became hard to predict What would be the real impacts? Although it has already passed through the state and weather conditions have improved this Friday, rescue teams and authorities are still assessing the damage and impacts.

The pressure and the move from level 2 to 5: why was Milton “unique”?

On Sunday, forecasters were pointing to a tropical storm forming in the Gulf of Mexico. But 24 hours later they were alarmed by the speed and intensity with which it was evolving. Thus it went from being just a storm to a hurricane with unusual intensity. For this, he counted on the fact that gusts of about 289 kilometers per hour were recorded where Milton passed. And the pressure dropped to very low levels: a pressure of 897 millibars.

[Já saiu o segundo episódio de “A Grande Provocadora”, o novo podcast Plus do Observador que conta a história de Vera Lagoa, a mulher que afrontou Salazar, desafiou os militares de Abril e ridicularizou os que se achavam donos do país. Pode ouvir aqui, no Observador, e também na Apple Podcasts, no Spotify e no Youtube. E pode ouvir aqui o primeiro episódio.]

Milton thus joins the category of five hurricanes in the Atlantic which fell below 900 millibars. On this list were only Wilma and Rita, from 2005, Allen and Gilbert, from the 80s, and also the Labor Day storm, in 1935. That is why meteorologists were very worried and, on Tuesday, Milton had moved to the most intense area. category: to 5.

Given these predictions, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, came out to publicly warn that it could be “The worst storm in a hundred years.” The Head of State advised Floridians to leave their homes, highlighting that it is a matter of “life or death”. The same calls were made by civil protection agencies and the governor, Ron DeSantis.

However, as meteorologist and New York Times journalist Judson Jones reports, Milton was losing intensity, due to an “interaction with cold, dry air” that diverted the hurricane toward the northeast when it entered. ashore. This ended up weakening him, although he still left a trail of destruction in Florida, particularly in the central and west coast of the state.

The baby born during Milton and the teenager saved from the rubble

Two stories with a positive outcome marked the passage of Hurricane Milton in Florida. One of them happened to Kenzie Lewellen, who was pregnant and panicked when she started having contractions early Wednesday morning. “I was very nervous” the 22-year-old, originally from Port Charlotte, told NBC News.

Still, Kenzie Lewellen’s mother decided to take a chance and transport her to Sarasota Hospital. “It was very windy. We were being as careful as possible. There were not many people on the roads, because it was very windy and raining a lot,” the young woman recalled. When she arrived at the hospital, she had to say goodbye to her mother and only be in the company of her boyfriend, Dewey Bennett.

The young woman also recalled that, when she was taken to a hospital room, she watched the storm from the window. “I told my boyfriend that a tree I saw from the window looked like it was going to fly away. And then it really flew,” he told NBC. To further complicate the situation, there were complications and the baby had to be delivered by cesarean section. “I had so many things on my mind, a storm and my family,” he said.

Kenzie Lewellen and Dewey Bennett’s baby ended up being born healthy and without health problems. And he wasn’t the only one born during Hurricane Milton: six others were born. Sarasota hospital CEO David Verinder noted in a statement, cited by NBC, that he was “proud of the medical team” he worked with during the storm. “They left their homes and their families to be with the patients and their community.”

In another story with a happy ending, after the storm passed, on Thursday, a 14-year-old boy was rescued by Sheriff Chad Chronister, along with members of the US Navy. The teenager was “submerged” and “floating in the rubble” when he was rescued.

Sheriff Chad Chronister and #teamHCSOThe US Marine Unit rescued a 14-year-old boy who was submerged in flood waters and floating on debris after Hurricane Milton. pic.twitter.com/mOInO7ZM0j

– HCSO (@HCSOSheriff) October 10, 2024