11 months ago
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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Hurricane Milton's landfall arsenic a Category 3 hurricane didn't conscionable bring devastating tempest surge and highly unsafe upwind speeds, it besides near Tampa Bay soaked with historical rainfall.
Tampa Bay faced a imaginable menace of catastrophic 15-foot tempest surge, but this was averted erstwhile the hurricane swerved into Sarasota County adjacent Siesta Key.
However, this meant that the counties northbound of Milton's oculus were deed by dense rainfall.
St. Petersburg saw 15 to 18 inches of rainfall, portion areas successful and astir Tampa saw 12 to 13 inches of rain. Even counties further inland saw historical levels of rain, good aft the hurricane deed land.
"In fact, successful immoderate areas, it's astir a once-in-a-500-year event, judge it oregon not," said Jeff Berardelli, Max Defender 8 main meteorologist. "Very, precise uncommon lawsuit successful parts of our area."
In Tampa, Milton produced 12 inches of rain, much than 5 times the mean magnitude of rainfall for October. The mean magnitude for the full period is usually 2.3 inches of rain.
At times, radical deliberation of hurricanes arsenic much of a menace erstwhile it comes to tempest surge oregon winds, but with rainfall similar this, Tampa Bay residents saw unprecedented flooding that struck their neighborhoods and homes, adjacent extracurricular the evacuation zones.
"We're talking a ft and a fractional of rainfall, and present that is what is starring to those lower-lying areas wherever you perceive radical say, 'Well we don't usually flood. We're not successful an evacuation zone,'" Max Defender 8 Meteorologist Amanda Holly said. "Well, erstwhile you get 18 inches of rainfall implicit a large area, yeah, you volition spot abnormally precocious h2o levels get into areas that don't usually flood."
With the dense rainfall brought by hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton, 2024 has go the wettest twelvemonth connected grounds for the Tampa Bay area. After Milton, Tampa saw 77.11" inches of rain, much than 32.93 inches much than the mean yearly amount.
"Even if we don't get different driblet of rainfall for the full remainder of the year, we volition extremity the wettest twelvemonth connected grounds successful Tampa," Holly said.
While the rains are retired of our area, determination is simply a fearfulness of stream flooding arsenic they crest aft the hurricane.
The Anclote River, the Hillsborough River, the Little Manatee River, the Alafia River, and the Manatee River are each areas of concern.
However, Tampa Bay volition present acquisition immoderate adust bluish aerial that volition trim the humidity.
"It couldn't instrumentality the rainfall accidental retired completely, but I truly deliberation that extracurricular of getting a speedy small sprinkle, the time is going to consciousness comfortable," Max Defender 8 meteorologist Leigh Spann said. "And it's going to instrumentality astir with bully adust conditions each the mode done the weekend."
