Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Monday that the forecast for Hurricane Milton is “almost identical” to what the National Hurricane Center once tabbed a “worst case” scenario for Florida.
Milton rapidly intensified into a Category 5 storm on Monday with sustained winds of 180 mph. In a post to X, Rubio attached a graphic showing storm surge of 8 to 12 feet for Tampa Bay and 5 to 10 feet for Charlotte Harbor. That, however, was from a forecast earlier in the day. The NHC updated Tampa Bay to 10 to 15 feet of storm surge and Charlotte Harbor to 6 to 10 feet.
“Several years ago I asked @NHC_Atlantic to show me what the worst case storm hitting Florida would look like. What they showed me back then is almost identical to the #Milton forecast now,” Rubio< said in the post.
In a subsequent post, Rubio wrote, “If you live in an evacuation zone the time to leave is as soon as you can. Do NOT wait for the last minute.”
In its 5 p.m. forecast on Monday, the NHC had Milton’s center making landfall as a Category 3 storm early Thursday morning. It added the hurricane could bring with it “life-threatening storm surge and damaging winds” to Florida’s west coast.
“I can’t emphasize this enough: now is the time to know your zone and listen to local officials. Get out NOW if you’ve been told to do so!” posted Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.
