The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said Florida appeared to have dodged a “worst-case scenario” during Hurricane Milton, which made landfall on Wednesday night as a Category 3 storm before passing over the state.
Milton, which formed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane with 185 mph winds several days before it slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast about 50 miles south of Tampa. But as the storm neared Florida, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) downgraded the system to a Category 3.
“What we know for sure is we avoided that worst-case scenario that we were planning for,” FEMA Director Deanne Criswell told CNN on Thursday morning. “But the fact that they prepared for the worst really made sure that they were able to respond to the impacts that they have experienced, and the biggest ones right now are the tornadoes that have been reported across the state.”…